Brotherhood
by EasyCompany506
Summary: A year after being known as "Constable Cooper" the notorious thief is struggling to tell Carmelita the Truth. He must also balance between taking care of a sickly friend and taking down a major syndicate. Had to edit this,made important changes. Rated T
1. Chapter 1

Sly Cooper_ and All Character's from the three games belong to _Sucker Punch Productions_. Any other characters, traditions, or organizations belong's to me._

_This Story is rated T for excessive violence and profanity in English and other languages._

_This is my first Fic, so feedback would be great._

_This is to all viewers and fans of _Sly Cooper. _Enough explaining! Time to enjoy._

**Chapter 1**

**Prologue**

_Rain. It can be both a blessing, and a annoyance. _Leigh thought, while lying in a pool of water mixed with blood. _So, is this it? Has my bloody luck run out?_ The English wolf thought to himself. Through his blurred vision his saw a raccoon appear over him. He barely heard him say, "He's still breathing! Carmelita we need an ambulance here!" The raccoon turned back to the wounded wolf, Leigh could just make out his voice. "Leigh?" it sounded like he was miles away. "Leigh, can you hear me?!" Leigh's vision was blurring more and more with each passing moment. "Leigh! It's me! It's Sly, can you hear!?" Then things went black.

**14 Months Earlier**

The Notorious Sly Cooper had retired from his thieving ways, in order to pursue a life with his favorite Interpol Detective; Carmelita Montoya Fox. He had lied to everyone that he had gotten Amnesia while fighting Dr. M, on his family's Treasured filled Kaine Island. He left his friends and gang behind, and been renamed: Constable Sly Cooper.

Chief Barkley, at first was not too enthusiastic about having the same thief, who had outwitted his best officers for maybe five years, as a Constable at Interpol. After Carmelita's side of the story and a few months of arresting several criminals, Barkley gave in and formally pardoned Cooper and the rest of the gang as well.

Sly fearful for Carmelita, pushed himself hard, chasing and arresting the worst scum in the world. It was easy since he knew everything about criminals, being a former criminal himself. He could tell when a robbery, or a murder were about to take place. Sly also became the second best shot at Interpol, the first being Carmelita.

Sly, who didn't have a dime in his pocket, and no roof over his head, was allowed by to stay at Carmelita's Parisian apartment. Sly, of course, did not protest. On their free time they went spent time together, mostly listening to music, or watching TV. Occasionally they had their new friend Leigh Garret over for dinner.

Leigh was an English mix of Wolf and German Shepherd, and a fellow Interpol officer. Everyone knew Leigh had served with the British army in both Iraq and Afghanistan, but after the latter, he came back, with what looked like shock, depression, and guilt. It's mostly a glorified babysitting job for Sly and Carmelita, since Leigh comes over very intoxicated. Most of the time he passes out in the couples living room. Thankfully Leigh only lived two doors down from them.

Soon, after a month of being together, Sly and Carmelita slept in the same bed, but strictly sleeping only. Then after six months Sly worked up the nerve to ask her out for dinner. To his bewilderment she said yes. After this it only got better for Sly and Carmelita.

Finally after a year of being in love, Sly was getting anxious to tell Carmelita the truth. He loved her so much, but he just couldn't imagine her throwing him out when he broke the news.

Sly was thinking this even after he, the vixen and wolf went to work that day. He just couldn't get it out of his head.

Carmelita worried for her partner, suddenly spoke, causing the raccoon to jump slightly. "Something wrong ringtail?" She said, eyeing him carefully.

"No, it's nothing." he said recovering from her sudden appearance, cracked one of his all-too familiar grins.

Leigh who was sober and who sat right across from both of them, perked up his ears. He could tell Sly was lying. "Mate, I've known you long to know that ain't true." Sly scoffed, the raccoon knew there was no lying to Garret when he was sobered up. "Your right." He said to the English wolf. "I guess it's all the stress from work. Chief has been pushing a lot of paper work on me."

Leigh sat up right in his chair and swivelled around to face him. "So take a bloody holiday." he said, gapping at Sly. "You should too." he said turning to Carmelita. "I mean look at yourselves!" he said, swinging his arms at them. "You look like neither of you have slept in weeks."

"What about this paper work?" Carmelita asked, her pointed ears sticking up. Leigh merely laughed and shook his head. "I'll handle it." He scoffed at this, flattening his ears. "Not like I've anythin' better to do."

Leigh then felt a surge of pain, specifically in his chest. He put his right hand over his heart. _Damn, that one really hurt! _He thought. Carmelita seeing something, asked, "Leigh?" The wolf looked at her. She flattened her ears when he did. "Heartburn again?" Leigh looked insulted at this. He merely waved his hand and laughed.

Just then a voice was heard over the telephone calls and computer keys clattering. "Hey Leigh!" The wolf's ears shot up and looked around for his shouter. "Yeah, mate?" An American Fox hound in full tactical armor, came up to the middle of the desks, he was holding his helmet in one hand and an M4 assault rifle in the other. "You three are working on the Mancini case, right?" "Aye." Leigh nodded. "Well, he and his gang just set a ransom, ten million Euros for thirteen hostages in an express elevator down town." The hound then turned to Sly and Carmelita. "He rigged the elevator to blow in two hours." The two and Leigh looked at their watches. "Well, we better get there before they get any more crazy then they already are." Carmelita said with concern.

The trio got up and went immediately to the armory.

Both Sly and Carmelita had taken their shock pistols, and began putting on Kevlar. Leigh shook his head at the two. "Don't you guy's ever go lethal?" Carmelita was taken aback by this question. "We're cops, Leigh, not executioners." Leigh, who had just taken out his customized Colt 1911 .45 handgun, said in a serious tone, "Well, if you been through the shit I have" he pulled the slide back, "you'd understand" he released the bolt and it snapped shut.

After putting on some body armor, Sly and Carmelita got in a Ford Lincoln and Leigh in to a Ford Ranger and the two vehicles sped off towards downtown Paris.

"Sly?" Carmelita asked him after awhile. "Hmm?" he answered keeping his eyes on the road. "I'm starting to get worried about Leigh." she then turned her head to face him. "That's sixth time this week that's happened to him." The car stopped because Sly had hit a small traffic jam. Using this he perked up his ears hearing the vixen's concerns about Garret. "I'm sure Leigh is fine Carmelita. Besides he says it lasts only a minute." Carmelita shook her head at Sly's stubbornness about the wolf's problem. "All the same, after this, we should get him to a doctor." "Ha! You might as well ask him to jump off the London bridge." Sly said chuckling. "Leigh wouldn't be caught dead in a doc's office. Besides, from what I understand, the guy hates needles." Carmelita looked back at the road and laughed. "_Cabrón, _survives two wars, and eight years at Interpol, and _he's_ afraid of needles?" Sly smiled and said, "Sad, and shocking, isn't it?"

_I made only a few changes. One was prolonging the story, where as adding more interesting parts. And the second was this footer. Nothing serious just something for my fans._

_The next chapter is on it's way, might be after Thanksgiving, what with that, school, and work, I really don't have much time to write. The 2__nd__ chapter will have a lot of action and violence in it. I will not give up on this story, I will not fail my readers!_


	2. Chapter 2

_So what did you guys think about the first chapter? I certainly hope that it was ok._

_In case your wondering (Spoiler) yes something _is_ wrong with Leigh, but you'll fine out if you just read._

_Anyway this chapter is going to show how Sly, and Leigh deal with different situations using different methods. I don't need to explain Carmelita, cause lets face it, we all know how she handles things; Shoot first, ask questions never. This _will_ be kinda long. But hey, I'm trying to get between 1000 to 1500 words at the minimum per chapter._

_Enjoy._

Chapter 2

After a ten minute drive, Sly, Carmelita, and Leigh finally arrived at the office building, where Johnny Mancini and his thugs were holding thirteen people hostage.

Leigh, who had just got out after pulling into the assembly area, where many more French police, SWAT, and Interpol officers were gathering, stopped, he immediately grabbed his chest, another spasm of pain. This time it was worse, and he was feeling short of breath. Just like before, it left as soon as it came. He quickly looked around to see if anyone noticed and quickly straightened up.

The octagon-like building was a fifty plus story, that was about two hundred feet wide.

Chief Barkely, who had arrived at the scene moments earlier, had moved over to a bus that had crashed into the building, the terrorist's entry vehicle. Behind him, nailed to the bus, was a vertical schematic of the building. His booming voice was heard across the parking lot. "Alright! Listen up!" Everyone began gathering around him and listening closely. Barkely looked around at all of the officers who were looking at him. When he was sure everyone was paying attention, he shouted, "The civilians are trapped in the second express," he pointed at the a part schematic behind him, "Below floor thirty-five. The only way to get them out is an access panel five floors below." He looked back at the crowd. "Unfortunately we'll have to lower them, manually." A SWAT officer standing next to Carmelita, then shouted, "We can't remove the access hatch in the ceiling?" The Chief shook his head. "No, that's where Mancini has placed the bomb."

Leigh was standing next to Sly, was then hit with another spasm of chest pain. Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists he endured the pain silently. This did not go unnoticed by Sly of course. "Leigh, you alright?" he whispered. "I'm fine, mate. I'm fine." Garret answered quietly.

Everyone around them were too intent on listening to Barkely to notice anything. "How many bad guys are we talking about chief?" The American foxhound that had informed the trio about Mancini, had just asked that. "Security cameras in the lobby show about twenty to thirty of them, fully armed and wearing body armor." Barkely answered, grimly. The officers were murmuring loudly to each other. Law enforcement officers had only faced fully armed hoods wearing body armor once, and that was in Los Angels in 1997.

"Now, Captain Leroux." Barkely told everyone, quieting them. Barkely stepped aside and a surprising slim pig stepped in front of the schematic. "Cameras have shown the tangos have entrenched themselves on floors thirty, thirty three, and forty. It's more than likely they have set up traps along the way, so every team will have an explosives expert going with them." he said with a thick french accent, while several officers straightened up. He began explaining the plan directly to his officers. Teams Alpha and Bravo would secure and escort the passengers. Charlie and Delta, would sweep through the ten floors between thirty and forty five looking for Mancini and his boys. And echo would secure the stairs in case any tried to get out.

Leroux then turned the floor back over to Barkely, who told his officers that some would go to the roof and lower the elevator to the two teams, while the rest would go with the teams themselves.

After studying the building layout for another hour, the negotiators, who had been trying to reason with Mancini, came back looking frustrated. Then Leroux gave the go ahead. Leigh would go with Charlie, while Sly and Carmelita would go with Alpha.

Sly and Carmelita, after being right behind two SWAT officers, had reached the twenty ninth floor. The officers looked under the door and nodded. They slowly opened the door to reveal a long hallway with doors on both sides. The officer looked carefully down the hallway and when he was sure signaled the others to step through. He barely got over the threshold, when four Jackals, exploded out of two rooms closest to the stairwell, two armed with Aks, one with a Scorpion SMG, and one with a shotgun, opened fire at the doorway. The officer first through was hit multiple times and fell back wards, in the door way. His body armor stopped the Scorpion's bullets and the shotgun's pellets, but were no match to the 7.62 millimeter bullets from the Aks. The officer behind him was also hit several times, and to everyone's horror, toppled backwards over the railing, screaming. Sly who was closest to the door, recoiled from the wall, since a rifle round had went through the wall, only an inch from his nose. The Italians shooters, had finally stopped shooting. "Any more of you pigs?!"

Sly leaned forward and dragged the first officer back to safety. Carmelita, who was right behind Cooper, placed two fingers on the on the Stag's neck. "Dammit." she said quietly.

Sly holstered his shock pistol and pulled out an expandable police baton. He turned back to Carmelita, "I'll take care of them." he whispered, his voice shaking. Carmelita, nodded, for she knew what he planned. He turned his attention back to the door way and began to concentrate. Then to everyone's except Carmelita's surprise, he vanished in to thin air. She grinned.

After six months on the force, Sly, added to the lie of amnesia, by using some of his family's techniques, he merely told Carmelita that he had gained some of his memory back.

Sly, using Slytankhamen's shadow walk, and Augustine Cooper's Gravity defying, gripped to and swung around the door frame and onto the wall. After landing silently he broke into a run towards the four unsuspecting Jackals. He then using his left hand flicked open the baton, to the fright of the Jackals since it sounded like a shotgun pump.

Sly jumped off the wall and right into the middle of the four. He turned and swung hard at the gunman in the rear left. He was caught in the stomach and doubled up, then swinging it like a hatchet, brought the baton down on the Jackal's head. The other three turned on the spot, but the one to Sly's left was hit in the face, then while he was clutching his muzzle, Sly, spun around threw the guy's legs out from under him. The other two Jackals panicked and opened fire at their invisible attacker but had hit absolutely nothing. Sly had used Sally Cooper's roll move to get between them, and under their barrage. Then the shotgun wielding gunman, had his weapon jerked out of his hands and smashed into his chest, then into his head, he then toppled backwards. The final gunman, now absolutely petrified, began firing madly down the hallway. Then he dropped his weapon and began struggling against the invisible arm around his throat. Sly then reappeared, and then after a moment, dropped the unconscious Jackal.

He let out a long sigh, and closed the baton. The whole fight had lasted only half a minute. He turned back to the stairwell and shouted, "It's clear. Come on in." Carmelita, with her shock pistol at the ready, appeared in the doorway, followed by the awe struck SWAT officers.

Meanwhile, Leigh's group had reached the floor where they would wait for the elevator, and guard it against any bad guys who felt otherwise.

After they took up positions to cover the elevator door from each direction, they called in to the Interpol officers at the top of the building. Soon they said the elevator was on it's way down.

Leigh had positioned himself on the farthest corner from the elevator. No sooner had he done that he heard voices around the corner. He slowly peeked around, and saw two Coyotes with Aks quickly approaching. He also saw a fire extinguisher, which they were right next to when shot out of the corner and fired once at the extinguisher. The bullet penetrated and caused the extinguisher's pressurized Co2 to explode. The Coyote closest to it was thrown in to his companion and both to the floor. The Coyote who's comrade had been thrown into him quickly got up, but cried out as a slug went through his head, he landed on his back and moved no more.

Leigh quickly, but cautiously walked over to the spot.

No sooner had he passed the door way, he felt hands violently land on his shoulders and then was thrown into the room. He landed on a chair and then the floor. He was on his feet in a heartbeat, turned on the spot to face a Coyote roughly his size. He swung hard and connected with Leigh's jaw, but was met with a kick to the gut, then a fierce upper cut. He then tackled Leigh, and both went through a glass door, to another office. Leigh got up but was then put into a sleeper hold. Leigh then using his strength pushed himself and his attacker hard into a wall. Again and again Garret repeated this all over the room, while nearly destroying every breakable in it. The Coyote the decided to break a lamp over Leigh's head.

Frustrated, Leigh decided to bring his right arm back, and smashed his forearm right between his opponent's legs. The Coyote yelped with pain, but was then thrown head first over a computer. After a loud _Thud!_ Leigh, in his anger, pushed the computer right on his fallen attacker. Garret then walked over and kicked the Coyote one last time. "No one sneaks up on me, ya filthy bugger." he said to the unconscious Coyote.

Leigh retrieved his firearm, holstered it, and went back to the hallway. By now the elevator was being unloaded. "Hey, Leigh? You ok, we heard gunfire." One of the Interpol officers asked. Leigh nodded. "I'm fine." he said in a hoarse voice. He then pointed his thumb to the hallway were three Coyotes lay. "They're not." The officer smiled and nodded. "Well we cleared most of this floor, and the others are mopping up."

Just then a female rabbit who had been slowly taken off the elevator immediately grabbed Leigh. "Please, he took my daughter! He's got my Daughter!" she screamed hysterically. "What?! Who's got your daughter?" The officer said. "Mancini." Leigh said calmly. It was bad enough that Mancini, force them into a bomb laden elevator, but hearing this, Leigh felt something snap.

He made the rabbit let go of him, and walked back to the two Coyotes in the hall. Leigh strode over to the one that wasn't dead, picked him up by the collar, and looked him in the eyes. "Where's Mancini?" he said with a shaky voice. "Top floor." the Coyote answered. Then he smiled. "You'll never get to that brat in time, pig." Leigh then drove his fist into the guy's face, knocking him out.

He picked up one of the Aks and broke into a full run. "Sly, it's Leigh." He said into the Mic set. "Mancini's got one of the hostages, top floor, meet me there." He rounded a corner, and ran straight to the stairway.

He hit the door hard and to his surprise he felt the door hit something itself. It was a Jackal, and he had his back to the door when it hit him. The sheer force of Leigh slamming into it cause him to send the Jackal flying over the railing. Leigh who had barely noticed, didn't stop.

The Jackal's friend a story up noticed and turned. Leigh had also noticed this Jackal and opened fire with the AK. The bandit dropped like a bag of bricks, and Leigh kept running.

Sly and Carmelita had just finished going through the thirty fifth, when a radio message came through. "Sly, it's Leigh. Mancini's got one of the hostages, top floor, meet me there." A moment later, there was the sound of gunfire in the Mic.

Sly looked at Carmelita, who had also heard Garret's message, and then he said, "Come on, were heading up." He then turned on the spot and started running for the stairway, Carmelita right behind him.

Leigh, was nearly to the top floor, despite running for maybe ten minutes, and his breathing was unsteady.

He then stopped on the landing, his chest was now burning. The pain was so intense, it caused him to drop the weapon and then to his knees clutching his heart. His lungs were screaming for air, but he just couldn't breath fast enough. Then just like that, it was gone.

_What the hell's the matter with me?_ He thought. It had never hurt this bad before, nor this many times. He then shook his head. _Come on, Leigh. Focus!_ He got up, grabbed the rifle and began running again.

After running up two more stories, he had finally reached the final story, as he ran across the landing, he couldn't stop fast enough, so he rammed his side right into the stone wall.

Then he saw another Coyote with his back towards Leigh. Out of instinct, he raised the rifle and pulled the trigger, _CLICK CLICK!_ "Ah, Shit!" Leigh said hoarsely. He released the magazine, it was completely empty. When he looked back up, the Coyote had heard him and was training his Shotgun right at Leigh. Garret, then with out thinking, hurled the empty metal magazine right at the Coyote, striking him in the face. It had distracted him long enough for Leigh to grab his pistol and squeeze three rounds off. Two hit him in the chest, and another in the face. Leigh ran past the Coyote as he tumbled to the landing.

When he looked up, he saw a Jackal coming down from the stairs to investigate the gunfire. Leigh decided that the useless AK had one last use. He then gripped both hands on the stock and with as much strength as he could, threw at the Jackal. The empty weapon struck him in the face. He cried out and placed both his hands on the injury. This gave Leigh the time he needed. He got right up to the Jackal, and swung hard for his stomach, then he straightened him up, he threw his head into his opponent and then flung him down the stairs.

Leigh finally reached the door to the highest floor of the building. Then the door opened up and yet another Coyote appeared and just as he turned, Garret grabbed his weapon, and swung it upwards. The gunman, in his terror pulled the trigger. AK rounds struck the walls and the ceiling. Leigh then punched him in the face, and tossed the rifle over the edge. The Coyote, gaining some courage grabbed Leigh by his shoulders, and the two were struggling to over take the other in the confined space.

Then Garret was pushed up against the railing, with the Coyote right on top of him clutching his throat. He could easily see a bright and reflective metal object appear in his attackers hand. Leigh quickly grabbed the Coyote's arm with the knife in it's palm. He was pushing hard to drive the blade into Garret's chest, meeting an equal force from Leigh. The wolf balled up his free hand and drove it into the Coyote's face. Then again, and again. Finally after one more powerful jab to the face, the Coyote released his grip on the officer. Leigh pressed his advantage, striking his attacker in the chest and then he gripped the Coyote by the back of his tactical vest, and threw him over the railing. He screamed as he plummeted down.

Sly and Carmelita were meanwhile ten stories down from Leigh, when something came into view, screaming. Almost as fast as it appeared it vanished. "Holy shit." Sly said. He then glanced over the railing to see a Coyote falling to the ground floor. "Looks like our English friend is busy upstairs." he said turning to the vixen. "Well, lets give him a hand then." she answered. Sly nodded and both continued upwards.

Garret continued down the hallway, with his pistol up and ready. He began to advance on the only door that wasn't open. He was moving cautiously but quickly. Finally when he reached the double doors. He slowly gripped the door handle, and very slowly, opened the door.

The room was wide with two large plants on either side of the doors. The were no walls, only ten foot high windows on every side except the door's wall.

Standing next to the window directly ahead, were two people. One was a tall Jackal, wearing a black leather jacket, light khaki cargos, and combat boots. The other was a short female rabbit. She was trembling. Garret noticed a small wire running from the desk, near the window, to the small rabbit's neck.

Then Leigh saw in the Jackal's hand was a round green object. It was a grenade.

At that moment, Leigh heard a small, _click_, as the Jackal, removed the grenade's pin. He didn't see the small black lever, spin away, which was good. As long as that lever stayed in, the grenade would not go off.

The Jackal smiled at Leigh, who noticed a Desert Eagle in his other hand. "It's either you and me, Garret," Mancini said, as Leigh's ears went up. "Or me and _her_." he continued. He then brought up the weapon, as Leigh leveled his at Mancini's head. The Jackal then jerked his hand and the small magazine popped out, and hit the floor with a small clatter. Mancini then chucked the empty gun to his left.

Leigh, seeing as he had no choice, clicked the safety on his .45, clicked the magazine release, and tossed it back down the hall. He pocketed the magazine and began to walk forward.

Mancini turned back to the rabbit, handed her the grenade. "Now you just hold on to it nice and tightly, and you will stay together." he said to her, then kissing her on the head.

Mancini then started also walking towards Garret. "Why arrest me, Garret?" he said, his arms wide. "You could be very rich, if you just let me go." Leigh responded by cracking his knuckles.

When the two were on top of each other, Mancini swung first. Leigh ducked and brought his fist up, only to miss by inches. The Jackal then made a hard right hook, Leigh stopped it with his right forearm and slammed his left hand. Mancini then jabbed Leigh right in the face, and then tackled him hard forcing both off their feet. The Jackal then began to savagely beat Leigh in the face.

Again and again he swung, and each connected with Garret's face. Before he could swing again, his shirt was grabbed by both of Leigh's hands and he head butted Mancini. While he was caught off guard, Garret brought both of his legs up and rammed them into Mancini's chest. Using the same motion Leigh sprung up and was back on his feet.

Just then Mancini withdrew a knife from his coat. "I'll kill you, with my personal favorite." he said smiling, his teeth dyed with blood. Leigh turned and spat out some of his own, not taking his eyes of the Jackal. Mancini then made a quick slash towards Leigh's face, who barely leaned back to avoid it. The Jackal then tried a backhanded slash. Leigh ducked and felt some of the fur off his head be removed. Then Mancini grabbed Leigh by the throat and hurled him over the desk, nearly hitting the young rabbit. He hit the floor and then the window, which cracked from the bottom to the top.

Leigh, by now was tired, as was Mancini. Both panting hard. Then Mancin began to chuckle. "You really thought that you could best me?" He then spat a wad of blood at Leigh, who was now on his knee. "You, a filthy half breed?"

When Leigh heard this, he froze. "What did you say?" he said gritting his teeth. "Oh, touchy subject, Garret?" The Jackal said, then he began to laugh, but that didn't last long.

Before Mancin knew what happened, Leigh was on his feet, and on top of him in a flash. Garret then began the process of beating the hell of out the Jackal. He jabbed him several times int the stomach and then the chest.

Mancini made one futile attempt to stab Leigh. He thrust the knife right at Leigh. Garret just stepped out of the way, but the knife did make a small cut on his arm.

Leigh then grabbed Mancini's arm and then slammed his free elbow right between the forearm and the proper arm. There was a sickening _CRACK _as Leigh broke both bones. Mancini cried out in pure agony, dropping the knife. His right arm swung uselessly by his side.

As Mancini stepped back, he saw Leigh slowly picking up the bloodied knife. The Jackal watched as the angered wolf began to approach him, fire in his eyes.

The Jackal, using his only functioning arm swung as hard as he possible could. But Leigh using his right arm stopped it. Then Leigh using his left hand, plunged the blade as deep as he could in to the Jackal's chest.

Mancini's black eyes bulged with shock and pain. They stared deeply into blue ones of the wolf.

"I hope you know how to fly!" Leigh shouted, emphasizing the last three words as he grabbed the Jackal's jacket, and with a roar, Garret threw him out the cracked window. Mancini's body tumbled like a rag doll down fifty stories. Then it landed hard on top of one of the parked police cruisers.

Chief Barkely, knew who threw the dead Jackal out the top window. "Always like to end something with your fist, huh Leigh?" he muttered, craning his neck looking to the top.

Breathing hard, Leigh came back to his senses and looked around. Then he found what he was looking for. The young rabbit had taken refuge under the massive desk, still clutching the grenade. "You can come out now." He told her while moving to the front of the desk, sounding very tired. He then sat down, leaning against the desk. He let out a long sigh, as the small rabbit sat down next to him.

He noticed that the wire was still around her. So moving his hands slowly, he unfastened it and pulled it over head and onto the floor. He then took the live grenade and gently placed the pin, which was on the desk, back in, disarming it.

The rabbit's hand began fumbling for something in her jacket pocket. A moment later she pulled out a package of cigarettes. She pulled one out and her hands still shaking she pulled out a lighter. After lighting the cancer stick, she gestured to Leigh if he wanted one. "No thanks." he said, holding up his hand. "I drink."

Just then Sly and Carmelita came in. The latter was holding the empty .45 pistol.

"Well, look who decided to join us." the wolf said smiling. "Sorry about that." Sly said, shock pistol in hand. "We got stuck on the forty-fifth floor." Carmelita, tossed Leigh his weapon. "So, Mancini?" she said looking around. "He's in one of the cars down stairs." The wolf said, standing and helping the still, shaken rabbit to her feet.

Looking behind the wolf, Cooper saw the smashed window. He laughed, looked at Leigh and asked, "Can you ever do _anything_ the easy way?" As Garret walked by, he stopped by Sly. "I don't want to disappoint you, brother." he said smirking. Leigh still shepherding the young rabbit, walked out of the room.

_I'm sorry that it took a bit. Came down with the flu on Thanksgiving. After that I've been busy with school and the finals coming up, and my job._

_I suppose some people are still wondering what is wrong with Leigh. That will be explained in the next chapter, I promise._


	3. Chapter 3

_I decided to bring in a new character. They will be of great importance to this story, especially to everyone's favorite drunk._

_I hope people aren't thinking I've abandoned this, because _I HAVE NOT._ I just got a writer's block from here to Chicago._

_Now enough chit chat. Chapter 3_

**Chapter 3**

After getting to the bottom of the building, Leigh handed over the rabbit to her hysterical mother, and was ordered, by chief Barkely, to an ambulance for his injuries. This gave Sly and Carmelita time alone.

"I can't believe Leigh can get away with stuff like _that_." Carmelita said, motioning towards the body bag that had Mancini in it. "Carm, I don't agree with his methods either, but he is one of the best cops." Sly said. He momentarily gazed towards Leigh who was sitting, grudgingly by an ambulance while the medic sewed up his arm. "And compared to you and me, that's saying something." he continued with one of his infamous grins.

He turned back to her, she looked to him. _I can't keep my eyes away from him for even a second._ Carmelita thought, staring into the racoons brown eyes. Cooper staring into Carmelita's. _I wish I could tell her the truth._ "So, what are you thinking, Ringtail?" Carmelita said quietly. "That I'm staring into an angel." he answered. She scoffed and started walking away. "Don't flatter yourself, racoon." she said, jokingly. Smiling Sly began to walk next to her.

"You know, I've been thinking about what Leigh said." sly said to her. Brushing past several people, the two stopped by the Lincoln they drove to get to the scene. "About what?" Carmelita asked. "About taking time off." Sly then put his hand over his eyes, and began to massage them. "I'm getting tired. Do you work this weekend?" Carmelita thought for a minute. "Just Saturday. You?" she said. "I don't work this weekend. So, I guess this Sunday." The vixen nodded and smiled. "Sunday it is." She took a quick look towards Leigh, who was trying to stop the medic from wrapping his arm up. "That also works, since Leigh goes to Notre Dame every Sunday." she said, looking back to Sly.

Just then Leigh began to bellow at the medics. "ALRIGHT! THAT'S E-BLOODY-NOUGH!" He shouted, got up and began to walk back towards his truck. Sly smiled and said, "What's the matter Leigh? Don't like doctors?" Leigh opened the truck's door. "Damn right I don't!" Leigh said gruffly. "You know what happened the last time I went to the docs?" Both the racoon and the vixen shrugged. "They tried to take my bloody appendix out!" He answered them. He then slammed his hand on the hood. Sly couldn't help but laugh.

Still angered, Leigh went right back to his truck. "Hey, where are you going?" Carmelita asked. Leigh, once again got out of the Ranger, and said, "I'm going to the market. My stock of alcohol is getting low." he got into the truck and drove off.

Sly and Carmelita got into their own car and began to drive back to head quarters. They were talking along the way. Mostly about Leigh. "On the note of Leigh and alcohol, do you know why he drinks like that?" Sly asked Carmelita. Sly wouldn't have know because the smashed wolf was there before him of course. Carmelita merely shook her head. "No, Leigh came from London exactly like that five years ago. Wouldn't tell me why." She said, looking sympathetic.

Changing the subject, Sly decided to talk about what they were going to do that Sunday. "What do you have in mind for me, Ringtail?" she said, looking at him, her eyes piercing him. "Well, erm.... I really haven't decided yet." Sly said, feeling awkward. Carmelita scoffed. "Well, when you think of something Sly, let me know."

Meanwhile, Leigh had arrived at the market and had already gotten himself a case of American Jack Daniels whisky. He was still thinking about what had happened in the stairway of the office building. _Maybe I should go to a doctor. I've been getting more and more of those._

At that moment he felt someone run right into him from his right. It hit him hard enough to knock him to the ground. He heard glass breaking, and felt liquid flying on him. The case of whisky had shattered into oblivion.

Then he heard a voice, a woman's voice. "Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't see you." the voice said. Grunting Leigh hoisted himself into a sitting position.

Then he saw her. She was an otter. With long brown hair, properly trimmed whiskers, and probably the greenest eyes Leigh had ever seen. Her accent was American. She was wearing a white tee shirt, a light blue denim jacket, jeans, and athletic shoes. Her eyes were livid with shock, and her cheeks red with embarrassment.

Leigh shook his head when her gaze had reached him. "It's alright ma'am." he said to her. Then he saw the case of whisky. It was lying on one of it's corners and the liquid inside the glass bottles was leaking out like a small river. "Well, I guess it's a good thing I hadn't paid for it yet." he said surveying the damage. The otter was still very red. "I'm so sorry, sir. I just didn't see." She said. She must have said sorry a dozen times before Leigh began to laugh at this.

She stopped saying sorry, and actually smiled. Her teeth were pearly white. Some people would say; that was a perfect smile.

Leigh, quickly got to his feet and then one of the employees came forward. "Pardon, but is there a problem, _Monsieur_?" the employee asked Leigh. "No, no it's quite alright." He then inched his way to the otter. When he was next to her, he muttered, "C'mon, let's leave before they try to bill us." She heartily agreed.

After leaving the store, the female otter, spoke up, "Are you sure your alright?" she asked him. "Yes. I'm fine." he said again.

He then asked something he wouldn't understand why he asked. "What's your name?" She looked at him, completely caught off guard. He guess she hadn't planned on being asked that. "Uh- Grace." she said, almost muttered it. "Grace Burdett." She then looked him right in the eyes. "And may I ask, what_ your_ name is?" "Leigh. Leigh Garret."

Neither of them understood, why, but they then began talking about what they did, where they were from, and why they came to Paris. Leigh found out that Grace was from Colorado, and was there to study french poetry, while on a student visa for college. "Why french poetry?" Leigh asked, puzzled. "Well, my father was here in the 70's working for army truck company during the Cold War. He was in the french part of Germany, when he met my mother." She said, smiling. "She was a very prominent french woman, and she fell in love with him, and after that, they moved back to Colorado." She looked back to him. "And yourself? Why did _you_ come to Paris?"

"Well, after my tour with the Territorial army, I sorta worked with my younger brother at a trucking company." He laughed. "When that didn't work for me I joined Interpol. Worked that for about three years." he said. His expression changed immediately. " Then after 9/11 I enlisted 03, went to Iraq. Then later Afghanistan." Leigh said. He then lowered his head, remembering the day everything changed for him. "After that, I moved out of London, rejoined Interpol, and moved into the nearest whisky bottle." he said grinning ruefully. "Eh, that was then, this is now." He said, shaking the memory out. "I try not dwelling on the past."

When they reached Leigh's truck, Grace began to walk away. "Oi! Where your's car?" he said, his hands stretched outwards. "I don't have one. I walk."she answered, waving without stopping. "You walk?" Leigh asked raising his eyebrows. He then looked at a watch he had on his wrist. It was nearly seven p.m. "At night?" Leigh asked flabbergasted. Grace stopped, turned and grinned. "Well... sure." she said, shrugging her shoulders.

Leigh shook his head. "Oi!" he shouted towards the departing otter. "Get back here, I'll give you a ride." He saw her shake her head. "Nah, I'll just huff it." "No your not." Leigh shouted. "Yes I am." She shouted back. Leigh scoffing now, just kept trying. "I'm not going to let you walk." He said. "Yes you are." He stared getting frustrated now. "Hey! Get back here!" She turned back to him. "Your not going to take 'No' for an answer, are you?" She said, turning back, with her arms crossed. Leigh shook his head. "Ah, dammit!" he heard her mutter. "Fine, alright." She said, and began walking back."

Sly and Carmelita after getting back to their apartment, decided to relax. Carmelita sat down at the table and began going over some paper work. Sly crashed on his bed. He was still thinking about what to tell Carmelita. He kept running the scenarios through his head. What would happen if she becomes angry that he had lied to her? Would she leave him? Would she cart his ass off to prison? He didn't know, but that fact that he _was_ lying to her, was tearing him apart.

_Something is bothering him, and it just can't be work._ Carmelita glanced at the silhouetted figure on the bed. Light from the rising moon had caused stripes to appear over Sly's body. _I just wish he would tell me._ She shook her head and turned her attention back to the paper work.

After driving for twenty minutes, Leigh and Grace had finally arrived at her apartment. Which even by Leigh's low standards was very luxurious.

"Uh, you live alone?" The otter looked to him. "No, I have a roommate, whose comes from a wealthy." she said. She nodded and said, "Well, thank you. For the ride." Leigh nodded, he was never a talkative type. _Maybe I should ask her for a drink._ He kept thinking to himself. A voice in the back of his head was telling him otherwise. It was a voice that was saying that he didn't need anyone, and that was that.

Grace stepped out of the truck and began walking to the apartment building.

The battle in his head was still raging wether to ask her or not.

He shrugged and turned his head. "Hey!" he called out. The otter turned back looking puzzled. "You uh," Leigh trying to say it, but still struggling. "You want to, uh, get a beer sometime?" Grace's eye brows quirked. "A beer?" She repeated. Leigh answered by nodding. "Uh..." She began, looking for what to say. Then, "Yeah." she said nodding. "Yeah why not?" A smile erupted from Leigh's mouth. "Great, say... tomorrow night at 7:00?" Grace nodded. "I'd like that." she said, smiled and then turned back towards her apartment.

After Grace had went inside, Leigh was still sorting out what had just happened. He chuckled, and said to himself, "Well, Leigh." He looked back and put the truck into gear. "There may be hope for yourself yet." He then drove back towards home.

Sly was beginning to drift into sleep. His eyes were getting heavier, and heavier with each passing moment. He was still thinking about Carmelita, the red furred angel he loved so much, and feared so much of losing.

He was nearly asleep when he heard her voice. "Sly?" She whispered. She sat down on the bed next to him. She sounded worried. He recognized the tone. It was the tone that wanted to know something. Sly in a small panic, didn't move a muscle. "Are you awake?" She said still whispering. Again Sly didn't stir. Carmelita sighed, seeing as he didn't look awake. "Something is bothering you raccoon, I know it." she said. More to herself than to Sly. "I just wish that you would tell me. If it's about me...." Sly insides went numb. She was beginning to sound like she was on the verge of....crying. "Then just please tell me." She put her hand on his chest. "Please tell me." Sly wanted to say something, anything. He wanted to hold her and tell her everything. The truth. The entire truth. But he said nothing, and continued to lie motionless. His insides buckled as her hand left his chest and she left the room.

As he heard the door to her room shut he sat up immediately. "Shit!" he muttered, he slapped his hand on his forehead. _She knows I'm not telling her something._ He then quietly banged his head against the wall several times. Then he heard something that he would not forget anytime soon; The sound of sobbing in the room next to him.

At 5:00 in morning Sly had finally fallen asleep. He listened to Carmelita weep herself to sleep. He knew he needed to tell her the truth and fast, or he might lose her in the end anyway.

Carmelita had gotten up, seeing Sly fast asleep, and the fact he didn't work that day, she decided to let him sleep. The night before was still hurting her, and she needed to act as though nothing was bothering _her_. She quickly poured herself some coffee, and after drinking the cup dry. She put on her khaki jacket, slipped her boots over her feet, and strapped on her holster for her shock pistol.

She went into to Sly's room, bent over his body and kissed him on the head. "I'll see you tonight, ringtail." she said, smiling ruefully. She turned and headed to the door.

She was greeted by a staggering Leigh Garret, his hand rubbing his eyes. She shook her head. " 'Nother hangover?" She asked, her hand on her hip. Leigh nodded. "Aye." she heard him say weakly. He then leaned over and slammed into the wall next to him. "Whoa. Jesus, you alright?" Carmelita asked, putting hand on his shoulder to steady him. He looked extremely nauseous. "Aspirin." he breathed. She saw him gasping for breath, his eyes were extremely unfocused. She quickly reached into her coat pocket and retrieved a medicine bottle. Leigh grabbed out of her hand and after unscrewing the cap, tilted his head back and emptied half of the bottle. He leaned forward and swallowed every single pill in his mouth in one gulp.

Carmelita still had her hand on Leigh's shoulder. He looked like he was beginning to relax and his eyes were becoming more focused. "Maybe you should let me drive." she said, looking very worried now. "I think that's a good idea." he said after a moment.

Leigh still looked awful, even after ten minutes of driving with Carmelita. He was moaning very loudly, and was clutching his chest several times. Carmelita also noticed that a putrid smell began filling the car. "Leigh, are you-are you sure your ok?" She glanced quickly at him before looking back to the road. "Feels like I'm having a bloody heart attack!" he said straining, closing his eyes and grabbing his chest. She could easily see he was in pain. "L-Leigh?" she looked to him to she that he wasn't moving, his hands were now hanging limply by his sides. His head was resting against the window.

"Leigh?!" she shouted. He didn't answer. She immediately slammed on the breaks. The tires screeched loudly. After they stopped, the vixen was out of the car and on to the other side. She opened the door and the wolf fell into her arms. "Leigh?" she said. She was almost petrified with fright. She unbuckled his seat belt and started smacking him in the cheek. He still didn't stir. "Oh my god." She muttered as she pulled out a cell phone.

She quickly dialed 1-1-2 for emergency services. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, the dispatcher answered. "Yes, this is inspector Carmelita Fox of Interpol. I have a fellow Interpol officer in need of an ambulance. RIGHT NOW!" she finished by shouting into the cell phone.

She turned her attention by to Leigh. She leaned over his head, her ears high on her head. Then she heard it. Shallow breathing. "Leigh? Come on Leigh." She said continuing to smack him in the face, trying desperately to wake him up.

_Well, if some of you hadn't figured out what was wrong with Leigh_, _now you know. What exactly is wrong? You'll find out after the New Year._

_Yes, I'm not going to publish any more chapters until 2009, so don't worry. I still working hard. I'll be more free to write now that Christmas vacation is on. Well until Next year, hopped you enjoyed this chapter._


	4. Chapter 4

_Okay. I hope everyone had a good Christmas, and New Years. Chapter 4. I know some are wondering what is wrong with Leigh. Well that will be answered in this chapter,_ _promise!_

_And I apologize it took a bit to get this done, my computer died. I have to work with flash drives and school computers. Patience children._

_Well, one of my New year's resolutions is finishing this bugger._

_Before we begin however one thing; Write some damn reviews people! Whether signed or not. I got to know if I'm doing good!_

_Alright, on to reading._

**Chapter 4**

Sly rolled over on the bed. He opened his eyes slowly, he was still drowsy from the night before. After rubbing his eyes and sitting up, he looked to his clock, 10:00 a.m. He slumped his head, "My head's still on the pillow." he said.

He pushed off the bed, and walked, or rather stumbled into the kitchen. He took a quick glace towards the empty bed next to his. He remembered that awful night. Not only for him, but for her as well.

He thought it over and made up his mind. "I'm gonna tell her the truth." he told himself. "When she gets back tonight, I'm telling her everything."

At that moment, there was an angry growling from the pits of his stomach. "First, get something to eat." He said, putting his hand on his empty belly. He went straight for the fridge. Opening it revealed only several empty soda cans, moldy cheese, a half empty bottle of Jack Daniels' whisky, to the amusement of the raccoon, some leftover bread, and a small amount of fresh deli turkey.

Another item in the refrigerator was an unopened bottle of Red Burgundy wine. "Well, well, well. What have we got here?" Sly said as he pulled out the bread, turkey and the wine bottle. After placing the bread and turkey on the counter he began to inspect the wine bottle. Sly had always know Carmelita had a bottle of red wine, which she only would open when she caught him and sent him to prison. He didn't know that it was in her fridge though. He generally went out and brought food home.

"_Clos de la Roche,_ _1985._ Carmelita, I am very impressed." He said reading the label. This was a Grand Cru wine.

This bottle comes from the _Clos de la Roche_ vineyard, in the _Côte_ _de Nuites_ Region. This particular wine was, some say, one of the finest, most sought after, and most expensive wine label in the world.

"She's got good taste." Sly said to himself while putting the bottle back into the fridge.

Sly's cell phone on the round table, began to ring. "Must be Carmelita." he muttered. He went over, answered, and placed the phone to his ear. "Hello?" he said. It was indeed Carmelita who answered him. "_Sly, where the hell have you been_?" He wasn't expecting any yelling and recoiled from the phone. "Why? What's going on?" he said, after bringing the phone back to his ear. "_Leigh's in the hospital_." "What?!" he said thunderstruck. "What happened? He alright?" Carmelita explained the situation to Sly who was still in shock of hearing about it. "_He sleeping now_." Sly nodded and said, "Ok, I'll be right there." He hung up the phone grabbed his boots, and his jacket and was out the door.

_The gunfire was kicking up the arid dust everywhere. The wolf was clutching his side. A bullet had just grazed him. A small lynx had just dropped into the small defilade the warrant officer was crouching in. "Alright there, Leigh?" His uniform was torn in multiple places, and he had a small gash across his forehead, with blood slowly leaking out. Leigh nodded. "I'll be fine." Just then another solider screamed, "RPG!" Leigh looked up and saw the rocket coming towards him and the lynx. Without thinking Leigh grabbed the small feline around the collar and threw him down. Then the rocket hit the ground in front of the hole and exploded._

Leigh's eyes exploded open. He began looking around frantically. Instead of open sky, he was looking at a white ceiling. He had been dreaming.

His mind began to process where he was. He found out he was lying down on something soft. A bed he imagined. He looked around because he heard a steady beeping. He saw a heart monitoring machine to his left, and a window and mirror facing the hallway to his right.

Also on the left, was an open door way, a chair, and a familiar half asleep raccoon in the chair.

"Sly?" he said.

Hearing his name, Cooper jerked awake. He immediately looked towards the bed Leigh was on. "Leigh!" he said, sounding tired and relieved. He got up from the chair turned so he faced out into the hallway. "Hey! He's awake!" he called out. A moment later Carmelita Fox, and Chief Barkely appeared. "Garret." Barkely said nodding. Leigh also nodded. "Chief." Carmelita then spoke up, "Christ Leigh. You scared the piss out of me." She looked as though she hadn't slept in days. Her eye lids were heavy and she had many black circles under them. "What the hell happened?" Leigh said, grunting as he moved to a sitting postion. Barkely then said, rubbing his eyes, "Well, you've been asleep for about two days."

Sly noticed that Leigh's arms were badly scarred. Whole lines of flesh were exposed, and he had many of them. Leigh had noticed this and slumped back down, covering his arms.

"Mr. Garret?" a voice said from the doorway. Everyone looked and saw a Golden retriever standing in the doorway. One of the doctors. "Ah good. Your awake." he said, walking into the room. He opened up a portfolio and began to shuffle through it. "So doc, what's the verdict?" Leigh asked, keeping his eyes on the doctor, to make sure he didn't try anything funny. "Well, you had a very serious heart attack." Leigh scoffed and rolled his eyes. The doctor didnt even notice. "How much alcohol do you consume in a week, Mr. Garret?" Leigh opened his mouth, but it was Carmelita that answered. "Till he passes out." The doctor then scribbled something on the clipboard he picked up. "And how often?" Sly looked down at his friend. "Leigh?" The wolf groaned. "Five or six days a week." he answered. The doctor looked up at Leigh then back to the paper. He wrote something else down. "For how long?" The doctor asked. Leigh gave a long, drawn out sigh. "Nearly five years." The doctor nodded and wrote more down.

"Well, the alcohol you've been drinking contains high amounts of ethanol." The doctor said as he put the clipboard down. "The ethanol built up, and caused unstable Angina pectoris. Severe chest pains. Now normally, this would only happen if you were at rest, but these attacks don't only happen when your relaxing, they also occur when your moving, and working." Carmelita looked to Leigh then to the doctor, Barkely looked like someone just hit him in the stomach, "We think that this is a newer variation of Angina, it has most of the symptoms, but this version could start up at anytime."

Leigh sighed. "So, what do you want me to do?" He asked, still eyeing the doctor. "Well, stop drinking for starters." he reached into his pocket, at which Leigh fidgeted slightly. The doctor pulled out the object he was reaching for and gave it to Leigh. It was pill bottle. "If you have another attack, take one of those, put it under your tongue, let it dissolve and then swallow. It should stop after thirty seconds." Leigh inspected the bottle, then unscrewed the top and took a quick whiff of the pills. He winced at the smell. "What's in this?" He asked. "Uh, Nitroglycerin." The doctor answered him. Everyone stared at him. "Very, very small amounts." he said raising his hands.

"Doctor," Barkely asked, looking to the retriever. "What will this do to his career?" This _did_ concern everyone, obviously Garret. "Honestly?" the golden dog asked. "I think his policing days are over." Leigh didn't accept this and shook his head. "Uh-huh." He said. "The only way I'm taking this bloody shield off, is when I'm dead or fat and useless. No offense chief." he added quickly.

"Now if you don't mind," Leigh said putting himself back into a sitting position. "I've got to get to work." He was about to throw the blanket off, when he stopped. "Hey." he said looking into the blanket. "Where're my pants?" He asked, feeling embarrassed and shocked, looking at the doctor who was on his way out. "Uh..." the doctor said. Sly and Carmelita backed up, they knew what was coming. "Hey, arsehole! Where are me bloody pants?!" Leigh said, the anger in his voice growing. "Well, uh we really feel that you should stay another day and..." The doctor knew he hit a nerve because Leigh then reached over picked up a glass medicine bottle on the night stand and threw at the doctor. The doctor cried out as he ducked and the glass shattered above him, scattering the contents. "Mr. Garret! Please!" The doctor shouted. Leigh then grabbed the check board and threw it hard. The doctor then ran out of the room. "**GET ME MY BLOODY CLOTHES, YOU** **FAGGOT**!!" Leigh hollered after him.

Sly shook his head. Carmelita scoffed. "Leigh your not a subtle person." Leigh looked hard at her. "Does it look like I have time for subtlety?" He then slumped back on to the pillow. "Great. I have a heart attack, and I got to retire." The chief shook his head. "I need some coffee, and a good smoke." He said, and stepped out of the room. He reappeared a second later, and pointed at Leigh, "I want to talk to all three of you when you get back to division." He said, a cigar jumping up and down in his mouth when he spoke. "Yes sir." everyone said, then Barkely left.

Then a voice came from the doorway. "I was wondering who was making such a racket." Everyone looked to the source of the voice. It was an otter, dressed in Khakis and a white long sleeve. "Grace!" Leigh said flabbergasted. She smiled at him. "So this is the reason you didn't pick me up." she said placidly. Leigh groaned and sunk down even deeper into his bed. He had completely forgotten about her.

Carmelita jabbed him in the shoulder. "Well," she began looking at him, then to the otter. "Aren't you going to introduce us?" Leigh's ears went up and he began to squirm under everyone looking at him. "Grace Burdett. This are my partners and mates," He said, sitting up slightly. He pointed to the fox. "Carmelita Fox." who nodded. Then he pointed to Sly. "And Sly Cooper. Also known as wanker." he added. "Hey!" Sly said, as he jabbed at Leigh. "So are you gonna get me a drink or what?" Grace asked. "Well, how about now?" Leigh asked. Grace took a minute to think about it. She then smirked and said. "You might want to put some clothes on." Leigh looked down. "I don't think people will be impressed, if your in hospital drapes." She finished. Sly and Carmelita began to snicker.

Then someone appeared outside the door. "Here!" He said as the doctor from before forced some clothes and other items into Grace's hands, without entering the room. Grace looked at Leigh with another smirk. "You make friends very easily don't you." she said, and tossed Leigh his things. "I'll be waiting in the lobby." she told him and left.

After she left Sly went for the door. "If anyone needs me, I'll be gettin' something to eat." he said cocking his thumb into the hall. Then with a swift turn he vanished. "Now, I need to get dressed." Leigh said throwing the blanket off him. Then he noticed Carmelita. "Do I really need to ask?" he said to her. "Hmm? Oh! Sorry." she said and exited from the room. On her way out she pulled the door so it only showed the mirror.

Carmelita turned back to the door, and she saw him. He had his back facing the mirror. He had already gotten his boxers on and the gown off. What she saw, were dozens if not hundreds of scars, burns and bared blackened flesh. Seeing this made her turn away. She knew he had gotten wounded in both wars, but nothing like that. She decided it was best not to mention it.

After a moment Leigh emerged from the room, fully dressed, and putting his holster on. "So, she seems nice." Carmelita said, still trying to get Leigh's back out her mind. "Aye. I definitely found someone interesting." he said. He then slid his over shirt on and began to walk away. "Now if you'll excuse me. I got to get this woman a drink." he said turning back to her and then departed.

The next day. Carmelita, Sly and Leigh were minding their own businesses, working on paper work, and just relaxing. Leigh was reclining backwards in his chair, arms behind his head. Sly was scratching his chin, deep in thought. Carmelita then got up and said, "I'm getting some coffee. Anybody want something?" She turned to Sly and then to Leigh. The both of them shook their heads. After Carmelita went to the galley, Leigh sat up suddenly. His hands fumbled for the pill bottle, grabbed one and threw it into his mouth. Sly shook his head. "Hey uh, Leigh?" He said to the wolf. Garret looked up as his ears slid down. "I'm thinking of taking Carmelita to dinner on Sunday." he said scratching his snout. "So why are you telling me this?" he asked taking his hands off his head and shrugged. "Well..." Sly began, and Leigh gave a irritated sigh. "You have no idea where to take 'er. Do you?" He asked inquisitively. "No it-it's not that. It's just, I need to talk to you after work, in private." He said, bowing his head slightly. Leigh knew when Sly got like this, it was him asking for advice about Carmelita. "Well, sure mate. I'll meet you on the roof." Sly nodded, just as Carmelita reappeared. "And what are you two boys talking about?"

Before they could answer there came the booming voice of chief Barkely. "**GARRET, COOPER, FOX! GET IN HERE!**" Carmelita, looked at the two and shrugged. "Back to the salt mines, eh guys?" Leigh said getting out of his chair and the three proceeded to the chief's office.

Leigh turned and faced a ram in a suit too big for him, wearing fat horn-rimmed glasses, and nodded to him. "Hey, Charlie." The ram smiled and nodded back to him. Charlie was the Paris division's explosive expert. Everyone knew it was wise to mostly keep away from him when he working.

"Chief." Sly said. Barkely was sitting behind his desk, smoking one of his fat Cubans. "What do you three know about Talon arms?" He asked the moment they came in. Sly leaned against the door frame, Carmelita and Leigh sat down. "Talon arms? They're major defense contractors." Leigh said. "I've seen some of the equipment they make, it's both powerful and frightening. They sell to all the major militaries, the Americans, Britain, France Germany, everyone involved in the major conflicts." Leigh finished. Barkely nodded. "Yep, they make weapons, protective gear, and accessories."

He then turned to Charlie, who nodded and got up. "They were courteous to give us some of this." he said, chuckling. "Very cool stuff." he added and pulled out a small item. It was two small glass cylinders put together. Both cylinders had a liquid in each one. One was Navy blue, and the other was Crimson red. "Uh, Charlie? Is that what I think it is?" Leigh asked keeping his eyes on the small object. Charlie nodded and slammed it on the desk. Leigh jumped. "It's a liquid explosive." Charlie pulling out a small syringe. "You want to be slammin' that thing around, Charlie?" Sly asked, sounding very nervous. But the ram just kept his cheery attitude. "Relax. You can't hurt it when its unmixed." he said inserting the needle in to the blue and then squirted it on to Barkely's desk. "Now either of them alone..." he began, and then to everyone's fright balled up his fist and slammed on the liquid. Everyone but Charlie jumped. "Jesus, Charlie!" Leigh said his arms over his head. "You got nothing." Charlie finished. He then grabbed a paper clip, bent the tip of one side and began rubbing it against a tiny leak on the red side. "But if you mix them." he said, he then concentrated and gently began rubbing the blue liquid.

"Sly." He said as he turned around, and waved to the right. Without objection the raccoon quickly moved away from the door. Charlie raised the paper clip and tossed it out of the room. A heartbeat later the empty desk nearest to the door exploded. It jumped and both halves landed up side down, feet away from each other. Several people screamed, others went for their weapons, everyone else just took cover.

When the dust cleared, there was a large hole in the floor. "Christ almighty, Charlie!" The Chief hollered at him. The ram just laughed and said, "Like I said, Very cool stuff." After Leigh had picked himself off the floor he glared at the ram. "You ever do that again, I'll shove my foot so far up, you won't be able to sit for the rest of your life!" he said. Charlie merely ignored this. "Now the bomb has to arm it's self before detonation. You'll see the blue liquid pump into the red, before it blows." Carmelita leaned forward examining the device closer. "How long before?" she asked looking at the ram. He shrugged and said, "Ten minutes, two seconds. It could be anything. But once its mixed..." he grinned. "Be some place else."

The chief cleared his throat and said. "Thank you Charlie. You may leave." The ram nodded and turned around. "And shut the door."

"So what's this about chief." Sly asked after Charlie left. Barkely pulled out a lighter and lit his cigar. He took a long drag and blew out a long trail of smoke. "There was a break in at their London storage division over the weekend. 500 pounds of that and dozens of crates loaded with weapons were stolen." he said looking hard at them. "500 pounds of that?" Carmelita asked shakily. "That's enough to resemble a bloody tall boy bomb." Leigh said. "Who crazy enough to steal that much?" Sly asked, his ears high on his head. "I think you three know who." the chief said standing up. He faced the window over looking the street. Leigh's ears went flat and his teeth gritted. "The Renegades." he said.

Carmelita, and Leigh had been after the Renegades even before Sly joined Interpol. They were a major Smuggling ring. They robbed both military and private armories, from every continent. Leigh had despised them, because most of the lieutenants were English, and ex army. And they got away, every time.

"That makes thirty in the last four months." Sly said. Carmelita began rubbing her head. "What the hell are they up to?" she asked. The chief turned around and pulled his cigar out of his mouth. "That's where you three come in." he said and sat down. "I'm making you three part of a special task force, to find and bring these guys down. Use any and all methods to do so. If you have to buy weapons and equipment off the street, you have my blessing. You three will run it, and answer to me and me only." He said pointing to them. "Not a word of this will leave this room. Do you understand? If this got out they'll know from people they have in the police." Carmelita looked disgusted and Leigh shook his head. Sly knew all about police corruption, he was arrested by two of them in the past. Both Interpol officers. "I'm giving you three help from other divisions. Fresh at Interpol." Barkely continued. He opened a drawer and pulled out five jackets. "All of them are either ex military or law enforcement. Each have their own abilities so use each and every one."

Leigh took one and began to read it over. It had a female Mountain lion's picture on it and all of the minor details like age, place of birth etcetera. "Mallory Davis, American. US Marshall. Sniper." Leigh said. He passed the jacket back to Sly. "Luigi Antolini, Italian. SWAT. Helicopter pilot." Carmelita said, reading the one with a Italian Pointer in the picture. "This guy's name is Sotoshi Kenbashi, from Japan, SDF (Self Defense Forces). Hand-to-Hand specialist." Sly said looking at a panther. Leigh took another and laughed. "I know this bloke. Roger Pengelly, English, naturally, Army. The bugger works with explosives." Leigh said pointing at the Rottweiler. Sly took the last jacket and read it aloud. "Mark Eaglehorn, American., Marines. This guy can get anything anywhere." staring at the picture of a white Bengal tiger. Carmelita looked at him and said. "Somehow I don't like how that sounds."

After handing all the folders back to Barkely, who replaced them back into his desk. "When can we meet them?" Sly asked, leaning back against the door. "Tomorrow. You'll meet them on top of Nostra Dame at 2 o'clock." The chief answered, taking another long drag from his cigar. "Don't be late." he said pointing at them, specifically at Leigh. They all nodded. "Get out." Barkely said and they all left.

"So what do you think about these characters we're meeting?" Carmelita asked Sly after she sat down. "Dunno." he said shrugging. "Leigh?" she said turning to him. "Later" he said quietly holding up his hand. A second later another Interpol officer stopped at Leigh's desk. "So what the chief want?" he asked. Almost eagerly. Leigh shook his head and said. "Just berating us as usual. Giving us another case. Nothing trivial." "Oh. Well have a good one." the officer said. After nodding to Sly and Carmelita he left.

"What was that about?" Carmelita asked looking past her wall. Leigh chuckled. "Now you know why the chief gave us _outside_ help."

_Again I apologize for the delay. My damn computer is pretty much dead. Fortunately I got a flash drive prior to it happening, so I'm not out of the game yet._

_The funny thing about the help our guys are getting, I never intended to add them. They just popped into my head and I didn't say 'I'm not going to add them.'_

_Now I'll get to working on chapter 5 see you then._


	5. Chapter 5

_I now it took me awhile to get this damn thing done. That's why it's called Patience. I made a solemn promise to finish this, and I promise you, I will._

_Now I'm sure you guys are wondering what have these new characters I added last chapter got to do with this story. Well, here's a bit of a spoiler; They could mean the difference between the survival of not only Sly's and Leigh's friendship, but their very lives._

_Right! No more nonsense onto the reading. Please review after!_

Chapter 5

It was nearly sunset when the trio got back to their apartment building. The air was getting cold. Fall was right around the corner.

After saying that he would be right back to Carmelita, Sly departed for the roof. When Sly opened the door, there was Leigh, his hands in his pockets, facing east, watching the sun get orange and go lower.

Leigh's ears fidgeted when Sly opened the door. He turned and faced the raccoon. "So..." Sly began. "So." he Leigh said. Sly opened his mouth but was stopped when Garret raised his hand. "First answer me this question." Sly shrugged and said. "Alright."

Leigh's eyes looked straight into Sly's. Sly thought for a moment, that the wolf was peering into his very soul.

"When," Leigh began, still looking at Sly with those piercing blue eyes. "Are you gonna tell Carmelita the truth?" Sly felt the fur on his neck stand on in. _He knows?_ "Uh- I- uh." Sly stammered. "Don't play coy with me raccoon." Leigh said frowning. "You think that could fly past me?" he folded his arms. "How- how long have you known?" Sly asked. He felt his hand on the door knob. If he had to run, he would Leigh's eyes darted for Sly's hand and then back to Sly. The raccoon let go of the nob immediately. "When you came through that office a year ago without the irons." Leigh said.

Sly saw that Leigh still had his weapon. He also noticed that it was unstrapped.

"I knew that when you came in that you fed Carmelita some bollock story. Most of the others felt the same way." Leigh continued. "We all figured that you were there to get more information off us." He stood there at the spot, hardly moving. The sun was right behind him now. "But I also knew that you wouldn't be arrested because you weren't doing anything wrong at the time. So..." he said leaning against the brick railing. "We waited. Bidding our time." he kept his eyes on Sly, but also on the door. Sly's ears went flat on his head. "As time went on, more and more officers began to think differently of you. Eventually after four months everyone thought you really didn't remember." he said, looking angry. "But not you?" Sly asked raising his eye brows. Leigh slowly shook his head.

"No. I was growing frustrated. I eventually came this close," he said holding his hand up and placing his fingers an inch away from each other. "To arresting you, throwing you behind bars, and losing my shield. In fact I should do it now!" he said as straightened up and turned facing the city. His ears were high on his head and Sly saw them twitching, if he ran Leigh would hear him do it.

Then he heard Leigh laugh. Garret relaxed and asked. "Do you know what changed my mind?" He turned faced Sly and smiled. "That night at the police gala." Sly's ears went ridged. Then he remembered. That night he danced with Carmelita and saw his old friend Bentley. "When I saw you and her dancing in the moonlight, and her smiling. I knew that you might have lied to her, but..." he laughed. "I knew from then on, you didn't join for information." he said, smiled again and looked Sly right in his eyes. "Mate, you did it for her."

That was true. Sly remembered that Carmelita had covered for him at Kaine Island. Said he was a constable at Interpol. Her partner. "Leigh," Sly said grinning. "She lied too. She had the chance to arrest me." Leigh cocked his head. "But then she said I was her partner." Leigh bent his head down and laughed. "Mate," he said. "I'm sure, you two have a certain understanding of each other." Sly smiled sheepishly.

"Now," Leigh said leaning against the wall again. "What did you want to tell me?" Leigh listened as Sly explained his plan. It seemed to go on for maybe an hour. When Sly finished, Leigh shrugged. "So you'll tell her after you two had dinner?" Sly nodded. "I'm going to tell her. And hopefully it goes well." "It's a risky gamble." Leigh said. "But I'm behind you, lad. For better or not."

"So, what do _you_ think will happen?" Sly asked his friend, who he now had a better respect for. "Well, if it goes well, then the both of you will be better off." Sly's ears flattened. "And if it doesn't?" he asked nervously. Leigh shrugged. "If it doesn't go too badly, you can always use the spare bedroom I got." He said as Sly groaned.

Leigh adjusted his over shirt and started walking back to the door. When he pasted Sly, the raccoon stopped him. "You're not going to turn me in?" Sly said. Leigh smiled. "I'm going to leave that choice to your lovely vixen." Leigh then moved towards the door again. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." Sly said in irritation. "Hey, you know what they say mate," Leigh said as he stopped and faced Sly. "No guts, no glory." Then Leigh exited through the door, leaving Sly alone on the roof.

That night, Sly kept going over what he and Leigh had discussed. It wasn't the only thing bothering Sly though. When Leigh talked about the gala, it was the only time, he had seen his friend Bentley.

He hadn't seen Bentley or Penelope, or anyone from the old Cooper Gang for a year. The fact that he was even missing Dimitri and the Panda King, show how much he longed to see them again.

He looked over to his clock radio, the timer said 12:09. He just couldn't sleep. He wanted to see someone again. No he needed to. He had forgotten the desire to see old friends so much that now he had to animals eating away at him. "Ah, dammit!" he whispered, remembering that the walls were paper thin. He got out of bed and went to the window. As he looked out over the city that was asleep. Trying to find Bentley and Penelope, who he knew was still in the city, was like trying to find a pin in a pile of pins.

Then something swam into memory. He laughed in disbelief. His bino-com. He had forgotten he took it when he went with Carmelita. He quietly went to his dresser and then began to rummage through his clothes. After a moment he found the unique set of binoculars. He went back to the window and placed over his eyes. He panned it left to right. He just couldn't see anything. He sighed and said. "Maybe, I'm just wasting my time." he figured they either didn't log in the safe house frequency to his bino-com, or they left the city all together.

When he past the Eiffel tower however, he stopped. He pulled the device away for a second before slipping back on. On the bottom of the screen, it was there, the distinctive S that meant safe house. He laughed hoarsely. "Bentley, you little...." he said and went straight for his coat and hat.

After slipping both on and replaced the bino-com into his pocket he went to his window and opened it up. After taking a quick glance back to the direction of Carmelita's room, he climbed quietly out the window and shut it. He turned and saw a lamppost that was very close by.

Sly then using his athletic abilities jumped and caught the post and using the forward motion flew off and landed on the roof across the street. He then continued into the night.

Carmelita woke, only after Cooper made his leap. She at first didn't think anything of it, but when she heard only silence, then she began to worry. Sly generally stayed up from eleven to one in the morning.

She got out of bed and exited her room. "Sly?" she called, only to be met with silence. The vixen walked slowly and apprehensively to the raccoon's door. She raised her hand to the ajar door, and pushed. The door creaked as it slid open.

To Carmelita's shock, the room was completely empty. She then turned her attention to the coat hanger next to the door. Both Cooper's hat and jacket were missing as well.

Out of the first thought to come to her mind, she left her apartment and went for friend; Leigh.

The knock on his door, at this late, Leigh didn't know who it was or why. He didn't like to take too many chances. He got up quietly and kneeled down to reach under his bed. From it he retrieved a double barrel sawed-off shotgun. He advance slowly to the door and placed his hand on the nob. Then he opened it. To reveal the night gown clad Carmelita.

He relaxed and made sure the weapon was hidden. "Yes?" he said using his free hand to rub his eyes. "Sly's gone." she said sounding concerned. "What do you mean 'gone'? Leigh said shrugging. "That's just it Leigh. He's gone, and I don't have any idea where he went." Leigh sighed and said, "Alright, I'll go out and look for him. It might be nothing." he then closed the door, after she said thank you and went for his boots on the floor. He began to mutter as he then pulled his jacket on. "Where the hell would he go at midnight?"

Sly had not lost any of his athletic abilities as he jumped, ran and leapt across the roofs of Paris. He used the feral jump many times, especially across some of the wider streets.

Finally after maybe half an hour of this, he stopped and pulled out his bino-com. He looked through and saw that he was very, very close to the safe house. He placed it back into his pocket and set off again.

Leigh pulled his truck off the side of the road and looked from corner to corner. After searching for nearly an hour, he still couldn't find Sly. He shook his head. "This is ridiculous." he said and pulled out his cell phone. "If that ringtail doesn't answer, _then_ there's a problem."

Unknown to him or even Sly, they were on the same street. Sly was in the middle of jumping across a wide street when his cell phone began to ring. The sudden noise threw him off balance and he pin wheeled and only using his quick reflexes did he reach out and grab a nearby light pole. He hit it with a loud _Clang_.

Leigh looked around for a nearby noise. He shrugged and still waited for Sly to answer. Sly slowly pulled himself so he was crouching on the pole, as he pulled out his phone. "Hello." he said sounding winded. _Jesus, it's about bloody time._ A familiar voice on the other end said. "Leigh?" Sly said sounding surprised. _No, it's queen Victoria. Where the hell are you? _"Uh–" Sly said looking around. "That is a good question."

"What? You don't know where you are?" Leigh asked still looking around. _I couldn't sleep so I wanted to run it off. I guess I lost track of myself. _Sly told him. What neither knew was, they were only twenty feet from each other. "Yeah, well Carmelita is worried hysterical about you, mate." Sly winced at that. That thing he wanted was to worry her. "Can you tell her I just needed to get something of my chest, Leigh?"

The other end was quiet. Moments went by before Leigh said, "Sure. Sure mate." Sly heard him yawn on the other end. "Sounds like you need to head back." Sly said with a bit of chuckle. _Yeah. I'm going back home, and do not to be bothered again for the next six hours._ Sly laughed. "Yeah, we'll get you if the place is on fire."

Leigh scoffed and said. "Nah, Just let me burn." He heard Sly laugh on the other end. "I'll see you tomorrow, Cooper." he said and hung up. He switched the truck into gear and pulled away. Sly was about to jump when he saw Leigh's truck leave. "Huh." Sly said.

He leapt off the pole onto the roof and checked his bino-com again. When he looked however it wasn't there. He panned left and right. No sign of it. "I'm right on top of it." he said looking down.

He hurried over to the edge and began to look for a door. After finding it he soared off the roof and spun around and landed silently.

It was one of the abandoned buildings in Paris. It wasn't condemned like some of the others though. The city just forgot about it.

Sly was about to knock on the door but stopped. He remembered it was almost 1:00 am. "They're probably asleep by now." he said to himself. As he lowered his hand, there was a small voice in the back of his mind. _This may be your only chance._ He thought about it hard and nodded. "Yeah." he said and knocked hard three times.

At first there was no reply. The seconds rolled by, as Sly thought to himself. _Please let it be them._ Over and over again he thought that. Finally the outdoor lights came on and all to familiar voice came from the intercom next to him. "No thank you! How many times do I have to tell you people we're not INTERESTED!?" Sly smiled and pressed the reply button. "And what about old friends?" The other side remained quiet. Instead the door in front of him opened. "Sly?" The wheel-chair bound turtle asked him. "Its been longer than I'd like Bentley." The sleepy turtle roared with laughter and immediately rolled over and shook Sly's hand vigorously. "How you been?"Sly asked smiling. "Great. Really great." Bentley said. He then pointed inside. "You want to come in?" he asked, still smiling. "Sure." Sly answered and stepped over the threshold.

Inside it looked extremely comfortable. It had nice furniture, carpet, wall paper, everything. What particularly caught Sly's attention was a cabinet with an old cookie jar, a money bag, a small blue diamond, and a cane with a golden C on it. The wood on the cane was freshly, polished and stained. It looked brand new. The cabinet had four locks on it. One an electronic lock.

"Bentley. You've been busy." Sly said with awe at the collection of small, but to Sly, priceless objects. "Yep. Took us a long time to find some of these things." Bentley said, sounding sort of nostalgic "Us?" Sly asked looking at him. "Yeah, Murray and Penelope are here too." The excitement practically exploded out of Sly. "No kiddin'?" Sly said. "Yeah, Murray's asleep upstairs and Penelope is working in the garage." "Well, I don't want to wake Murray up so, how bout Penelope?"

Bentley nodded and let Sly through the safe house to a door at the back. Rock music and the sounds of welding could be heard through the door. Bentley pressed a button and the door opened up. Inside the garage was neatly set up with two of every type of tool a mechanic or engineer could want.

There the cooper van was sitting. It looked like it had just been washed and waxed. Next to it crouching with a welder mask on, was a small white furred mouse. Penelope was welding a type of metal to the chassis.

Sly looked over to see a radio blaring next to him. He smiled, reached over and switch it off. Penelope's ears twitched slightly and she stopped the arc welder. "Bentley? Why did you-?" She said as she turned and flipped the mask up. She saw Sly just for a second before dropping everything and nearly tripped as she bounded over to him. "I don't believe it! You're here!" She shouted as she embraced Sly. "Hey Penelope."

Soon they were talking and laughing away. "So Penelope, what were you working on?" Sly asked after drinking a soda. "Well, Murray's been having problems with tearing up his van. So I came up with a new way to heat metal. It's lighter, but twice as strong. I can also make it flexible. Something you might find handy on the job." Sly chuckled. "So what's it been like being a cop?" Bentley asked. "Well, it long hours, constant paper work, and I'm always being yelled at by the boss." Sly answered. They laughed and continued to talk. Mostly about Kaine island, past jobs, and what they did now. Penelope worked as a part time mechanic, and Bentley didn't have a job, but started inventing more and more inventions.

Sly looked his watch and saw it was 2:30. "Jeez. I gotta get back." "You sure?" Penelope said, sounding tired. "Yeah, or Carmelita will tan my hide." Bentley nodded, yawned and began to rub his eyes. "Good idea. I remember how Carmelita is." Sly gathered up his things and bid them farewell.

Soon he back out into the streets, only this time he was walking on the sidewalks. He was still thinking about Bentley, Murray, Penelope, and the rest of the Cooper. But he was also thinking about Carmelita. He found himself in a strange situation. Him not telling her the whole truth was tearing her up. He decided that it was better for both of them, if he told the truth. Now.

But before he did. He needed to make a quick stop. A important one. If it went well, he would never be unhappy again.

Meanwhile, Carmelita had fallen asleep. She had awaited for Sly's return on the sofa, while wrapped up in a blanket. She was worried beyond measure. It wasn't so much as being worried about her partner. She was actually scared. Scared for Sly. She just didn't understand why.

The window facing out to the city, became black, as a shrouded figure appeared. He watched Carmelita through the window for a second before slowly opened it up. The figure slowly climbed in. He didn't make a sound. He was nearly all the way through when Carmelita awoke suddenly.

The figure gasped and stumbled. He face-planted the floor with thud. "Oh dammit!" Sly said muffled by the carpet. "Sly?" Carmelita said the prone raccoon. "Hello." he said waving blindly. The vixen stood up and the blanket slid off. She turned a nearby lamp on and said. "What the hell are you doing?" Sly raised his head revealing a sheepish smile. "Sorry." Carmelita shook her head. "Haven't you heard of a door?" she said. "Didn't want to wake you." Sly said as he stood up and closed the window.

"Sly. What is going on?" Carmelita asked. "You are hardly talking to me sometimes, I know your lying about something, and now this." Sly sighed as he began to choose his words carefully. "Carmelita I've got to tell you something." he said facing her. "Is it another woman?" Carmelita said out of nowhere. "What?! No!" Sly said flabbergasted. He then sighed deeply, "But I have been lying to you." He then rubbed his eyes. "I've been lying for about a year now." The vixen looked at him. "A year?" she thought it over and came to realize. "You mean you-." Sly nodded. "I never had amnesia." A moment passed before Carmelita then spoke. "Oh, so that's the reason you snuck out tonight?" She said it with surprising calmness. Sly nodded. "I was seeing old friends." Sly said, he felt his ears go flat, and were getting warm from pressure. "Dammit Cooper. You sure picked a great time to tell me this." Carmelita said folding her arms. Sly hung his head low. "Why couldn't you have waited till after work?"

Sly opened his mouth to answer what he thought she had said. He stopped when he realized what she _did_ say. "What?" he said befuddled. "Sly I knew you wanted to tell me something. So why now?" Sly's hand went through his hair. He then said, "You deserve both happiness and to know the truth." He sighed. "And I unsure if that's what I'm doing."

Carmelita then walked over and then kissed him on the face. "Sly you have been. You've been honest to me. And," she said looking into his eyes. "I sorta lied to you as well. I could've said that you were under arrest. But I didn't because," she said looking hard to find the right words to describe it. "Because I had this feeling that you really didn't remember. And to really tell the truth. I was...afraid of losing you."

Sly scoffed. "You were afraid of losing me?" he could feel tears beginning to build. "Does that mean-?" he asked, he was sure fat tears were spilling out. She nodded. "Sly," she said as she wrapped his arms around him. "I love you. I loved you the moment you kissed me that first time." she said laughing. Sly grimaced remembering something else. "Yeah, then I hand-cuffed you to a railing." "Oh yeah, that's right. You did." Carmelita said before jabbing him in the stomach.

"The point is," she said, catching her breath. "The point is that I care about you. More than anything else right now." Sly broke away from her, but kept hold of her hand and said. "Carmelita. I have something very important to ask you." She nodded. "Then ask." Somehow she seemed to know what was coming. Sly then slipped something on to her finger. When she looked, she saw a silver ring with large diamond in the mount. She looked at him shocked. Sly then said, "Will you spend the rest of your life with me?"

Carmelita at first looked unsure. "Sly, did you-?" then gestured to the ring. Sly chuckled and shook his head. "Only from other criminals." Carmelita smiled and embraced the racoon. "Yes." she whispered in his ear. "Yes, I do." Both of them were certainly thinking the same thing.

'I've never been happier.'

_I figured some of you were expecting this to happen. But not under these circumstances eh?_

_Anyway, I'm going to be introducing the Characters mentioned in Chapter 4, next time. Promise._

_Review and send me some feedback._ _Thanks._


	6. Chapter 6

_Alright, Chapter 6 is up and running. I know it, I don't have a specified date when I get these things out, but hey. Does anyone?_

_A side note. I'm sure some of you noticed I don't write these author notes to be long. I prefer getting right to the point._

_Anyway in this chapter, I'll be introducing five new characters. Each with different personalities, traits and skills._

_Enjoy._

Chapter 6

The sun rose lazily over Paris. By now the tenants of the apartment were starting to awaken. Among these tenants was a raccoon, and a vixen. Sly Cooper, and Carmelita Fox.

Carmelita was in the middle of drinking black coffee. When Sly came out of the bathroom, still tucking in his shirt. "So?" he said looking at her. "Mmm. So?" She turned while gulping down some of the bitter drink. "So what?" Sly smiled, approached and said. "So, what do you think?" Carmelita laughed. "About what?" she said as Sly wrapped his arms around her. "About last night." Sly said. "Oh you mean when you told me you had lied about amnesia, snuck out, and then told me at 3:00 am?" she said. Sly looked embarrassed. "It was great Cooper." She then kissed him and he kissed her. It seemed like an eternity of passion to them.

Sly then pulled away and said, "We better get going. Leigh's probably already waiting on us." Carmelita nodded and the two of them exited out the door. Indeed the wolf was waiting on them as he leaned against the wall. A flat hat on his head, bent low over his eyes. "Damn, what took you two?" Leigh said. He then noticed the ring on Carmelita's finger. He faced Sly, "Christ, Cooper! I thought you were going to wait." he said laughing. Sly just shrugged. "Wait, you told him too?" Carmelita asked looking at Sly with concern. "I didn't tell him anything. He found out." She then faced Leigh. "Relax Carmelita." Garret said, holding up his hands. "If I wanted him in jail, he'd be there by now."

Leigh then cleared his throat and said, "Now can we stop messing around, and get to work." At that moment he grimaced and pulled out his pills. They agreed and were off.

After getting stuck in traffic, Leigh was getting very agitated. His truck had failed to start and he was forced to ride with Sly and Carmelita. "**CAN WE MOVE IT!**" he shouted out the window. "Hey easy Leigh." Sly said while driving slowly down the road. "We'll get there when we get there."

A car behind them began honking his horn repeatedly. This continued for maybe ten minutes. Leigh finally stuck his head out the window and shouted, "**KNOCK IT OFF!**" The guy in the other car then flipped him off. "You filthy-!" Leigh said as he started fumbling to get out of the car. Just then another man's voice came. "Give the guy a Valium. Take one yourself!" he was of course talking to Leigh. "Oi shut up! I'm a policeman!" Leigh shouted his answer. "You- you want your car towed?" Carmelita then leaned over to Sly. "We better get him to the station soon or he's going to fight everyone here." Sly nodded in agreement.

Finally after another hour they got to Interpol. Leigh's mood hadn't improved much. "Leigh why are you so pissed today?" Sly asked as they ascended the steps to their company. "Normally I'd be having a bad bloody hangover right now and I would say anything till the meds kicked in."he said rubbing his eyes. "Wait. This is your first day without liquor?" Carmelita said. The wolf nodded. "So far."

"Well you better not be an _asno_ when we're meeting these _novatos_." Carmelita said. Leigh muttered indistinctly as his answer. "Didn't the chief say they were the best at their divisions?" Sly asked. He had some knowledge of Spanish, but not enough to be fluent. Leigh nodded, "Thats right. So we're not dealing with, uh what was it Carmelita? '_Novatos_?'"

Carmelita shook her head. "_Siguen siendo novatos en mis ojos._" She muttered in Spanish. Leigh then stopped her. "_Y usted necesidad de ser más razonable_." he said to what she had said. Sly stopped and stared. Carmelita looked surprised, more stunned. "༡_Donde y cuando el infierno usted apredió español_?" Sly was looking back and forth at the two, completely confused at what they were saying. "_Cuando estaba en Iraq_." Leigh said to what she asked. "_No lo sabía_." she said scratching her head. "There's a lot you don't know about me." The wolf said, in English. "What was that about?" Sly asked still confused. Leigh just shook his head. "Just a little discussion. Now lets not waste any more time they're waiting for us." He then patted Sly on the shoulder. Sly was still trying to understand what had happened as Leigh and Carmelita walked past him. He came back to his senses and quickly caught up with them.

When they reached their offices they saw that Barkely's office only had Barkely in it. Leigh looked back to the others, both who just shrugged.

Leigh then went over and knocked on his door. He looked up from his paper work and beckoned them in. As they all went through the door he then said without looking up, " Don't close the door." Leigh being the last one in obeyed and kept the door open.

"Where the new guys?"Sly asked his arms outstretched. "They're obviously not here." the chief said getting up. He then retched over and grabbed his business jacket and fedora. "C'mon. I need to go, _confess_, at Notre Dame." he said and as he exited through he turned and said, "Care to join me?" Both Sly and Carmelita were absolutely confused. "Confess?" Carmelita asked Sly. He shrugged and then turned to Leigh. Who he discovered was right behind the chief. "But there's no Mass today, is there?" Carmelita asked as she and Sly were quickly trying to catch up to Leigh and Barkely.

After walking for half an hour, they finally reached the ancient, yet majestic cathedral. Up it's steps in front of the aged doors, stood a elderly Bloodhound. "Good morning chief Barkely." The old dog said as he saw them approaching. "Good morning, padre." the chief said in response. They shook hands and Barkely went inside. "Hello Leigh." The padre said and shook the wolf's hand. "Father." Leigh said nodding.

Sly and Carmelita followed behind and after they saw the priest closing and locking the door.

They saw Leigh walk over to the bowl of holy water, dip his fingers in, kneeled, and quickly crossed himself. He then stood back up and continued his stride.

Inside the enormous church, and in one of the rows of pews nearest to the door were two older Interpol officers. Who were also close friends of the chief. Up front were five others. A Mountain Lion, an Italian Pointer, a black Panther, a White Bengal Tiger, and a Rottweiler.

After reaching the dais, they could clearly see each other. "Sly, Leigh, Carmelita I'd like you meet your new task group." The lion was sitting cross legged, spinning an 1860 Colt Army revolver in her hand. The Tiger was leaning against the wall next to the dais, his arms crossed. The Panther barely noticed them, and the two dogs were sitting next to each other, listening closely. "Leigh?" the Rottweiler asked, looking up. "Leigh Garret?" he asked again, this time standing up. "Hello Sergeant." Leigh said shaking his hand. "It's good to see you again, 'Leftenent.'" Pengelly said and nodded.

"I assume we've been introduced?" the Lion politely said, as she stopped spinning her revolver. "That's right Miss Davis." Chief said. "Alright, we're dealing with a very dangerous organization, one that extends from all corners of the globe, and even into our own divisions." The chief said, speaking to everyone of them. "That's why we had to meet here." Sly said, stating the obvious. "Now I've asked my counter-parts across the globe to bring you here, because you're the best at what you did there. And that's why I knew you all here." He then pointed to Leigh, Sly, and Carmelita. "Now these three are in charge, and they'll answer to me. They're the best cops I've got in my division. And I've told your commanders, that when you're here in my city, you answer to me, or them." he said sternly looking at all of them. "If none of you like it, fine," he said folding his arms. "Walk out now."

After a moment of hesitation, and nobody got up, Barkely nodded. "Is there anything you would like to add, Inspectors?" he said turning to Sly, Carmelita, and Leigh. "Yeah, we're going to need some things. Like a base of operations, equipment, an armory, maybe few more people. People we can trust." Leigh said. That's when an idea popped into Sly's head. "Hey Chief, can I talk to you?" he said, catching everyone's attention. "In private?"

At first the Barkely hesitated, but then nodded. The tow of them then walked over to one of the farther corners, out of earshot. "Alright Copper what is this about?" The chief said taking his hat off to scratch his head. "Well, I know of a good place for our safe house. And I trust the people there." Sly said. The chief didn't look to convinced. "You sure? I don't want this whole thing blown before it begins." he said. Sly knew the dangers of an operation getting exposed. He was determined not to make that mistake again. He nodded and said, "I trust them with my life." After a moment of thought, Barkely nodded.

The two walked back to the group, and Sly sat down. "Alright. You've got a base to work with, plus some more help." Barkely said to the others. He then turned to Leigh, "What else do you need?" He said as Leigh popped a pill in his mouth. "Technical equipment, computers and radios. We're also going to find a steady stream of weapons and ammo." Leigh said after swallowing. This caught Carmelita's attention. "Why not from the division's armory?" she said scratching her head. "No. If what Chief Barkely says is true, then there are eyes and ears in your division." Davis said sitting up. "Raiding the armory will only tell them that we're up to something." Leigh nodded in agreement. "Mallary's right. We're going to need to keep this as low profile as long as possible."

Barkely clear his throat. "Right. You all know what needs to be done." he said clearly. Everyone of them was staring at him. "Bring the Renegades down, using any methods within the law. Bend and stretch the rules if necessary, but do _not_ break them. Or your no better then the people your going after. Agreed?" And all of them nodded. "Then get on it." he said and started walking for the doors.

"Alright. Mark?" Leigh said to the Tiger. "You're the procurer. Start tracking down weapons, ammo, and anything else we'll need." Mark nodded and then Garret turned to Sly. "Alright Sly, better talk to your people, tell them we're coming." "Already on it." Sly said pulling out a cell phone.

He punched in the number and waited. The line rung twice before the other side answered. "Hello?" Bentley's Voice came. "Bentley its me. I'm going to need you and the other's help with what I got." "Yeah, sure. What do you need?" Sly got up and walked down the aisles of pews while he explained. "That's pretty big stuff, Sly." Bentley said sounding concerned. "Yeah. I won't involve you if you don't want to."

The moments went by like they were heartbeats. "Hey, I've worked with you for like, I don't know, since childhood. I haven't said 'No' yet." Sly grinned. "Thanks pal." Bentley then asked, "Two questions. First how many are there and what do you need?" Sly turned to face the group. "Theres five of us, and we'll need technical stuff, and a place to sleep."

Just then Carmelita to face him. She smiled at him. He smiled back. Then he started thinking. Thinking about the things he had never had. A real home, family, peace of mind, and love. Those might have been a possibility had his family not been killed, all those years ago.

"We can do both of those Sly." Bentley's voice came from the phone. That snapped Sly back to reality. "Huh? Oh yeah. Um thanks." he said quickly. "And the second?" "The second, will we be arrested after your done?" Sly shook his head. "No, the whole gang was pardoned." he then heard Bentley sigh deeply. "You alright pal?" Bentley asked a moment later. "Yeah, yeah I'll tell you more later. See you in a bit." Sly said and hung up.

After walking back to the group he then explained where the safe house was and who they were going to be working. After that they all agreed to head for the safe house. "Hey Sly?" Leigh asked next to his friend. "When are you and Carmelita gonna tie the knot?" Sly was surprised by this question. Indeed. He hadn't really given thought about the wedding. "Uh, n-not sure."

After everyone arrived at the safe house. Sly went to the door. "Hey Bentley. We're here." After a moment, the door came open. It was Penelope that appeared. "Hey Sly, come on in." She said and moved back as everyone filed in. "Ma'am." Leigh said taking his off his hat to her. Penelope felt very small as the larger people filed past her.

Bentley then rolled in from the kitchen and positioned himself next to the table. "Miss Fox." he said to Carmelita. She nodded and sat herself down. "Well alright." Sly said and then pointed to the mouse by the door. "This is Penelope." all the officers nodded to her. "Bentley." The turtle then nodded to the officers. "And somewhere around here is- -" Just then a sound like a run away freight train came through the kitchen and before Sly knew it, he was being bear hugged by an enormous hippo. "SLY!" The hippo said as he crushed Sly's rib cage with his massive arms. "Murray!" Sly said hoarsely. He was struggling to get air into his lungs. "Uh Murray?" Bentley said patting Murray to get his attention. When he looked Bentley pointed at Sly. "Air!" Sly said. Murray heard Sly and immediately dropped him. The raccoon fell like a rag doll to the floor. Everyone except Sotoshi the panther broke out laughing.

"I'm sorry. You ok little buddy?" Murray said gently picking Sly up. "Ugh. Yeah I'm fine. It's good to see you Murray." Sly said patting him on the shoulder. After she had finished laughing Mallary said. "You have a very interesting set of friends Cooper." He dusted off his jacket and smiled. "Yep. I wouldn't have it any other way." he said putting his arms on each of the two's shoulders "These two stuck with me since childhood."

"Well I hate to break up the reunion," Leigh suddenly said, everyone then looked at him. "But can we get back to why we're here?" Sly cleared his throat and nodded. "Alright. As I was saying at the cathedral, Mark start looking around for cots, weapons and any information you can about the Renegades." Eaglehorn nodded, "If it's in Paris, I'll find it."Leigh nodded and continued. "If anybody needs or wants something, write it down and give it to Mark." Everyone then started pulling out pens. "Bentley how bout you and Penelope start looking on the _internet_ for anything about the Renegades and what they've stolen." Sly then said to the turtle, who nodded and him and the mouse went into the kitchen. "And how about me?" Murray said shrugging. "How about you and me go and pick up the equipment when they're down writing?" Mark suggested. Murray then looked at Sly, like a child looking to a parent. "It's ok, pal." Sly said and passed a paper to Leigh.

After that everyone went to different activities. The hours past as everyone waited for Mark and Murray's return. Sotoshi looked like he was meditating on a couch. Luigi, was having a cigarette by the window. Sly and Carmelita we're talking together. Bentley and Penelope were still working on ThievesNet, Pengelly was also in the kitchen making coffee, and Leigh and Mallary were cleaning their sidearms at the table.

Mallary, as it turned out had two 1860 Colt Army revolvers. "Can I ask you something?" Leigh said as he was looking down the separated barrel of his weapon. "Sure." she said as she brushed out the cylinders. "Why those weapons? Why not something more modern?" Leigh asked as he began putting his .45 back together. Mallary laughed and said, "Mr. Garret. These _are_ modern. I made them." This surprised Leigh. "You made them?" Mallary nodded. "That's right. My daddy was a gunsmith when I was growing up. He showed me how and I wound up making these suckers." she said holding one of the weapons up. "I made them more accurate, double action weapons. Plus they spit out .45 ACPs. Been using them since I was sixteen." "Hmm." Leigh muttered. "A gunhand and sniper in the same person. Not bad."

Just then a vehicle came up. "Hey they're back." Sly said after looking out the window. Everyone then went to the garage and Murray and Mark jumped out of the Cooper van. Mark preceded to the rear and opened the double doors. Inside were many crates and several olive green cots. Leigh jumped in with Mark and the two started unloading the van. "Do I want to know where you got some of this stuff?" Carmelita asked as Mark handed her a cot. "Probably not." Finally everyone of the crates were off and in the living room.

Leigh then came in with a crow bar and ripped the top off the nearest to him. Inside were twelve Remington 870 shotguns. In another ballistic vests. One had MP9 SMGs in it. Another contained several rifles. Mallary had seven sniper rifles next to her. "I take a different one for a different day." she said shrugging. The rest contained 9mm .40 S&W, .22, 12 gauge, .556, and 7.62 ammunition.

"Alright. Now that we got everything we'll need. We should start looking around for anything on the Renegades." Leigh said. "Mallary, you and Mark should head to the London, find out every thing that happened at Talon arms." They both nodded. "Sotoshi and Pengelly you two hit the streets, shake up some of the local hoods." They nodded and Leigh then turned to Luigi. "You'll stay here to watch over Bentley and Penelope while they look for something." The pointer hesitated at first but nodded. "I'll head to division with Sly and Carmelita, talk to the chief and find out anything we can about these sons of bitches." he looked at each of them, and said, "Alright? Lets get going then." they all got up and left the safe house.

"Oh, Sly, Carmelita." Leigh said stopping the two. "Here." he said picking up two Walter .22 handguns and holding them by the barrels, offered the weapons to them. "Leigh we don't use guns. You know that." Sly said. The wolf nodded, lowering the pistols. "I know. But I've dealt with scum like this before. They will shoot you and not think twice about it." he said and raised the weapons again. The two though it over and Sly then took one from Leigh. Carmelita took longer, but sighed and snatched the pistol out of Leigh's hand. Then the three set off to division.

After getting to the division and coming up completely dry. Sly, Carmelita and Leigh were headed back to the safe house. Leigh was absent mindedly looking out the window into the crowds of people. Just then he saw two ferrets walking briskly down the street, and were even shoving some people as they went by. One was wearing a backpack. "Hey wait." Leigh said patting Sly on the shoulder. "Stop the car. Come on stop the car." he added when Cooper didn't do it at first. They pulled over to the opposite side of the road. "I know those two. They are troubleshooters for the Russian Mafia." Sly looked over to where Leigh was pointing. "Russians in Paris?" he muttered. "They only come out when they're dealing guns with somebody." Leigh said as Carmelita kept her eye on the ferrets. "You think this has something to do with the Renegades?"

The ferrets then entered an old warehouse. Leigh shrugged. "I'm gonna go over and ask them." he said and got out of the car. "Wha- Leigh!" Sly said but it fell on deaf ears. "Aww damn it." Carmelita said and followed the wolf. Sly parked the car and jogged after them.

The ferrets walked briskly through the empty corridor. They turned the corner and were met with an odd sight. A rat hand-cuffed to a water pipe and gaged. One spoke in Russian as he went for his hidden Makarov. "Uh-uh!" a voice said and the sound of a hammer clicking behind them. They turned slowly to see Leigh Garret standing in front of them. A large brief case next to him.

They stopped reaching for their weapons and dropped their arms to their sides. "Hey," one of the Russians said in English. "Where do I know you from?" he said pointing at Leigh. The wolf simply said, "Gibraltar." The ferret thought about it for a moment before it came to him. "Ah yes. You took about three tons of Cocaine from us." Leigh nodded lowered his weapon so it was at his side, and said, "That's right. And I'm not sure about this, but didn't I shoot your brother too?" The ferret growled as his hand started creeping to his weapon. "Ah-ha!" Leigh said seeing this. "Go ahead mate. Lets see if you can come in first place." The ferret smirked. "You won't kill both of us. And besides," he said chuckling. "Your alone."

Then another voice came from behind them. "Who says he's alone?" Leigh grinned and the ferrets spun around. Carmelita and Sly were behind them, Sly with his new .22 drawn. Carmelita with her shock pistol.

Just then, the other ferret started reaching for his jacket pocket. "Hey!" Carmelita said. The Russian then spoke in quickly in his native language. "What he say?" Sly said to Leigh. Instead it was the first ferret that answered. "He says its only a cigarette." the other nodded and slowly pulled out a pack of cancer sticks. He then opened it up and began to pull one in the middle out. "Hey, you watch it or it won't be the nicotine that kills you." Leigh said sternly. The ferret nodded and then Leigh turned his attention to the English ferret. "Now what do you know about the Renegades?"

Just then the ferret with the smokes pressed the pulled cigarette down. There was a small click and then he dropped the whole pack. Both ferrets then ran in different directions. At the last second Leigh turned away. The hidden charge of the pack then exploded. It was a flash bang explosive. "Aah! Shit!" Sly shouted as he was blinded by the flash. He threw his hands over his eyes and started staggering around. Carmelita had blinked when the charge went off so she wasn't blinded. But she did hear the explosion and was thrown to the ground.

Leigh staggered as he saw both the ferrets running fast. Then split off from each other. One went up the stairs behind Sly and Carmelita, the other down the corridor. "Ugh. Sly!" he shouted that sounded faint. "What!?" he also heard faintly. Leigh's hearing had come back and he started running after the first ferret down the corridor. "You take the one up stairs!" he shouted as he ran past Sly. Cooper nodded and ran up the stairs, Carmelita stayed with the hand-cuffed rat.

Sly followed the Russian, flight after flight. Finally the ferret had reached the roof, looked around and started going for his pistol. Sly just came to a skidding halt with his .22 in hand. "Hey! Hold it!" he shouted and raised the weapon.

The ferret shouted in Russian and spun around his weapon drawn. Sly didn't have a choice. He fired his weapon. Five times he pulled the trigger. Each one struck the ferret in the chest. As the ferret spasm violently he fell backwards through a window shattering. After falling his foot caught part of a chain and then he was just hanging there, dead. When Sly saw this he couldn't look very long. "Damn." he said. Then he remembered Leigh and sprinted back to the stairs.

Leigh ran fast after the ferret, but he was beginning to lose him. Finally after rounding a corner, the ferret vanished. "Shit." he muttered. He turned several times looking for the Russian ferret, but didn't find him. He began to advance slowly down the hall, weapon raised. He continued this even when he passed the stairwell. He took a quick glance and then kept moving.

"Stop." a voice said behind him. And that is exactly what Leigh did. He slowly lowered his weapon and placed it in his left hand, then, turned to face a Makarov pointed at his head. The little ferret had hidden in the small gap inside the wall of the stairwell. "For my brother." he said with hatred in his voice. He then pulled the hammer back. "Go ahead. If you got the bollocks." Leigh said defiantly.

Just then Sly came to a halt and saw the Russian pointing the weapon at Leigh. He raised his own and shouted, "Hey!" The ferret only turned his head for an instant. But that instant was all Leigh needed. He the brought his left arm up with lightning speed and knocked the ferrets arm away from him. But the weapon discharged as it had just cleared Leigh's head. The 9mm round then struck the wall. But then it ricocheted and then struck the next object in the stairs.

Sly yelled as the round struck him in the side and then tumbled forward. Leigh didn't noticed at first, but instead fired three times into the ferret. The dead Russian then slumped backwards against the wall and stayed there.

Sly then came into Leigh's view as he just finished. Sly then laid there in pain as Leigh saw that his best friend had been shot, by his actions.

An old nightmare resurfaced as Leigh then saw a small lynx lying in the same position as Sly. "Leigh!" a voice then came to the Wolf. "What are you doing?" Sly said as he saw the horror struck wolf. Leigh snapped back to his senses and holstered his weapon. He grabbed Sly and then threw him into a fireman's carry. Then he turned and ran back down the corridor.

Carmelita had heard the gunfire and feared the worst when there was silence. "Lord, please let them be alright." she said to herself silently. When she turned however she nearly screamed. She saw Leigh carrying Sly on his shoulders, blood running down Leigh's shirt. "What happened?!" she shouted. "Later." Leigh said through his teeth. "Just call it in." Carmelita nodded and got on her radio, alerting the police.

"Don't you think it might be better to get me to a hospital?" Sly said groaning. "After being shot by the mob? And that we just killed two of their lads?" Leigh asked barely stopping. Sly thought it over and said, "Yeah, your right."

"Ok, local PD is on it's way." Carmelita said. "Now lets get Sly some help, huh?" Leigh nodded. "He's gonna get it. Lets get back to the safe house." he said. Then faced Carmelita. "You'll stay here though." Carmelita looked taken aback. "But- -" she began but was quickly interrupted. "No but's, they'll need proof of us being here."

Just then Sly barked. "Can we please get the bullet out of my stomach!?" Leigh turned his head to face Sly. "Sorry mate. Yeah we're going, we're going." Leigh then began to jog fast to the car, leaving Carmelita next to the rat.

The rat, then began say something but the gag was still in his mouth so it was completely muffled. Carmelita took one look at him and said, "Shut up."

_So what you guys think? I know you guys weren't expecting Sly to get shot, huh? If it was good then review and send it to me. If not then piss off! Chapter 7 is on it's way. _


	7. Chapter 7

_I know it's taken me a little bit, plus FanFiction went down before I could log in to submit this, but I'm getting faster at typing these things. At the request of another reader, I' m trying to lessen the amount of swearing in this story. _

_Now to bring up to speed. We know nothing. You are now up to speed. (Laughs) No seriously. In the last chapter, you were introduced to the new team and what they would have to do. Also Sly was shot in the side of the stomach. Will he live? Well read this and find out!_

_Oh, if your under 13 then I suggest you be warned. It's kinda gory in this chapter._

Chapter 7

The roads were empty. It was almost twilight. It was also starting to rain, not a down pour but not just simple rain either.

The Lincoln was speeding through the near empty streets, much to the complaints of the other drivers. The wolf that was driving really didn't care. Inside in the passenger seat was a raccoon clutching his side, blood running over his hands.

"How you doing, mate?" Leigh asked Sly taking his eyes of the road for an second. Sly grimaced at the sudden jolt of pain that hit him. "Hurts." he simply said. Leigh shook his head. "I'm sorry, Sly." he said putting his head down. Sly's ears went high with this. "Hey." he said, grinning feebly. "How could you've known?" That didn't make Leigh feel any better.

Then the wolf just realized something that had just happened. "You saved my life." he said, not taking his eyes of the road. "You would- -" Sly began but faltered from the pain. "You would have the same, for me." Leigh thought hard about that pledge. Would he get the chance to pay Sly back.

Sly seeing this was tender moment changed the subject. "So, where are we going to get a doctor?" he asked wincing from the pain. "You already have one, lad." Leigh said glancing at Sly. "Who?" The raccoon asked looking at Garret. "Me." the wolf said. "You?" Sly said surprised. "Mate, I once had to remove a man's appendix with a butter knife." Sly winced at the thought of that idea. "I really don't want to picture that." he said. Leigh merely chuckled.

Then after another ten minutes of driving they reached the safe house. Leigh turned the engine off and jumped out of the car. He rushed over opened the passenger door and pulled Sly out. "Can you walk?" He asked the raccoon hanging on his shoulder. He didn't say anything, but just nodded. The two then stumbled over to the door. Leigh brought his foot up and jabbed it hard at the door. "Bentley! Open up! Its us!" he shouted at the door. A split second later Pengelly the rottweiler flung the door open.

The two then stumbled through the living room, Sly bleeding across the floor. Sotoshi ran over and threw everything on the kitchen table off, shattering several cutlery. "What happened?!" Pengelly yelled as Leigh helped Sly to sit on the table. "Get this thing off." Leigh said as he helped pull Sly's jacket off. "We ran into some ferrets I knew." Sly finished pulling the jacket off, and then his over shirt. Underneath was a ballistic vest. The side where Sly was hit, revealed some of the kevlar. Leigh started unstrapping the vest, just as soon as Carmelita burst through the door. "Is he alright?" she asked as she ran over to her fiancee.

"We'll find out." Leigh said to her. He then turned to Penelope standing next to him. "Penelope, I need latex gloves, two sets of small clamps, scissors, hot and cold water, any antibiotics and painkillers you have, gauss, and a small cutting tool like a scalpel or a small knife." She nodded and rushed off. "All of them need to be clean!" Leigh called after her. Sly looked nervously at Leigh after hearing the cutting tool part. The vest was removed showing only a gray tee shirt, the place the bullet struck was soaked and bloodied. Leigh looked around and said, "Can someone get me a pillow?"

Just then Penelope came back with several pairs of gloves, scissors, clamps, gauss and a small kitchen knife. She set them on the table and said, "I'll be right back with the medicine and water." Leigh then started to help Sly lie down slowly. He picked up the scissors and a pair of gloves then tossed them to Carmelita. "I'll need your help. Start cutting his shirt in half." She hesitated for a moment then nodded and start putting the gloves on. Leigh then pulled a small flask out of his jacket pocket. "Is that filled with what I think it is?" Carmelita asked pointing to the flask. "Aye." Leigh said nodding.

Penelope came back and brought one pill bottle and two small bowls of water. "No painkillers?" Carmelita asked. The mouse shook her head. Carmelita then started cutting Sly's shirt down the middle. After that was finished, she threw the left half to the side, and slowly began pulling the right away, it was also making a disgusting squelching sound. Leigh had just finished putting his gloves on when sure enough when she pulled it from Sly's body, there it was, the wound he had acquired an hour earlier.

Then to everyone's shock, mostly Sly's, Leigh then stuck his finger in the wound. "AAH! What are you doing!?" Sly screamed from the pain. Leigh looked and shouted, "Relax! I'm checking to see how deep the bugger is." After a moment, which was agony to Sly, Garret retracted his finger. "It's just beneath the surface. It didn't hit any vital organs or arteries, so it won't kill you." Leigh said standing and facing the raccoon. "But we got to get it out before you develop Sepsis, or Lead poisoning."

Sly nodded and said, "Then get it out for crying out loud!" Leigh chuckled, "Cooper, I admire your determination." he said, and the unscrewed the top of the flask. Then he offered Sly a drink, who winced at the smell. He shook his head. "No?" Leigh asked, shrugged, then took a quick drink. "Leigh." Carmelita said, with a warning tone. "I'm working on it." he said then started pouring it on the wound. Sly's body convulsed when the hard whisky touched it. "Alright, Carmelita." Leigh said to the vixen across from him. "Take the gauss and wipe away as much blood from the wound area as you can. Bentley do you have any bandages?" He said to the turtle, who nodded and wheeled to small cabinet.

"Then, Carmelita get ready I'm gonna make a small cut and there's gonna be some bleeding. Just so it's easier to get at the little blighter." Leigh added when Sly looked up. Leigh looked around as if looking for something else. "Uh- - Sotoshi hand me that wooden bar, would you?" he said pointing at the fire place mantel. After the panther complied, Leigh then turned to Sly, "Bite down, bite down on it, mate." he said, and Sly then had a wooden gag in his mouth.

Leigh then took up the knife and looked at everyone. "Right then. Lets get it done." he said then started as gently as he could, began cutting the top of the wound. Sly winced as Leigh made a half inch cut and like he said there was good amount of bleeding. Carmelita like he said started cleaning it away quickly. Murray had his hands over his eyes, Penelope was looking green, and Bentley pale. The others were hardly fazed. They had seen things like this before.

Leigh then picked up the clamps and started spreading the wound apart. "Ok, Sly I'll need you to tell me when I got it alright?" The raccoon's head nodded. He was bitting hard into the gag. Finally Leigh finished and put the knife down. He then picked up the first pair of clamps and stuck it in the wound. After picking up the second pair and then spreading the wound apart he reached in and started digging for the bullet.

"GRR! You got it! You got it!" Sly said through his teeth. Leigh nodded and looked up to Carmelita. "Alright lass. I soon as I get it out, put the gauss on it fast. He'll started bleeding a lot so timing is everything."He said. Carmelita didn't say a thing. Leigh hand started shaking from the effort of pulling the bullet out.

Then there was a small snap as the clamps came off and Sly groaned from the excruciating pain. Leigh looked and said, "Sorry." Carmelita looked furious. "Leigh can you try not to kill him yourself?"

Garret stuck the clamps back on the bullet and again his hand started shaking from the effort. His eyes were squinting and his teeth bared from the concentration. Then his hand came out and with it the bullet. "Okay, get on there. Get it on there!" he said as it started bleeding even more. He then started dipping the bullet in the warm water.

Sly with his weak hand, pulled the gag of his mouth. "Oh!" he said still in pain. "That's something I don't want to do again." Some of the others laughed a little out of relief. "Welcome to the club mate." Leigh said, pulling the bullet out and began to wipe the stuck on blood off. "I've probably been shot maybe," he thought it over carefully and said, "Eight times." Everyone looked at him

with surprised looks. "You have a real knack for making people angry at you, huh?" Penelope said readjusting her glasses.

Leigh nodded and grinned, "Aye, it's one of my more passive traits." he said and stopped cleaning the bullet. His expression changed immediately when he saw the small lead cone. "Jesus. Sly you were even more lucky then you thought." he said looking at Cooper with a grave look. "Here." he said handing the bullet to Carmelita. "Teflon?" she said after examining the spent ammunition. "Yeah, or a material similar to it." Leigh said as he started taking the gloves off. "So that's why it went through his vest." Bentley said as Carmelita tossed him the bullet. "Yeah, more and more cops are killed every year by that type of ammo." Leigh said throwing the gloves away.

"Wait." Bentley said, looking even closer at it. "What does this T with talons at the bottom and overlapping an A mean?" "Huh?" Leigh then took the bullet and sure enough on the bottom of the round, was a T overlapping an A, the bottom had talons. "Talon arms." he said after a moment. "So this is one of the things that was stolen." "Hold on." Carmelita said, catching everyone's attention. "How did the Renegades get out on the streets so quickly?"

Everyone thought it over. "Uh- maybe they had people already waiting?" Murray said, astounding everyone else. "You know, that actually makes sense." Penelope said looking up at the big guy. She then began pacing back and forth, hand on her chin. "They must've put word out on the streets that they were brining some high tech hard ware, at high prices." Leigh the helped Sly up so he could start wrapping his stomach up. "That would explain the ferrets. They belonged to one of the Mafiosos." Carmelita pulled the shreds of Sly's shirt off him and discarded them in the trash. "So they were going back for more?" she asked.

"Bentley how did you and Penelope do?" Leigh asked them as he finished up with Sly. "Well, all the people we talked to said they haven't placed any other orders aside from the ammunition." the turtled said shrugging. "That's right. One guy from Spain said that the police there have been getting fire at with rifle type ammunition." Penelope said leaning against the wall massaging her hands. "Another from Norway said there was automatic gunfire in the streets." Bentley nodded. "Ireland, Monaco, Italy, Poland, the list was endless." "_Dannazione!_ How much ammunition did they take?!" Luigi said.

"We'll find out when Mark and Mallary call back." Leigh said folding his arms. Just then his cell phone started ringing. He checked the id and it said 'M. Eaglehorn' "Speak of the devil." he muttered aloud and answered. "Mark?" he said into the phone. Everyone said as Leigh began conversing with his phone. "So what'd you find out? Five dozen crates. How much?" he said looking surprised. "_That_ much. What else? You serious? God almighty." the lasts words he muttered. "Alright. Thanks Mark. You and Mallary come back tomorrow." he said and hung up the phone.

He then faced the others looking grim. "We got new rules to this game." he said rubbing his eyes. "So?" Sly said with a raspy voice. "Five dozen crates were stolen. One dozen of G36 assault rifles that's about 300 rifles. Uh, two dozen with P90 SMGs making that a little over 1100." he said with everyone looking shocked. "The 500 pounds of explosive we saw yesterday. Eight crates with disassembled light machine guns and four crates loaded with tactical armor." Bentley pulled his glasses off and began cleaning them with a cloth he pulled from his pocket. "And ammunition?" he said squinting at Garret. The wolf sighed turned away, and said, "About two million rounds." Everyone was shocked by that number. "Two million?" Pengelly said hoarsely. Leigh nodded. "Most for the ones they stole, ammunition they sold like you two said, and the rest was a new type of ammo. A new universal round for an 9mm weapon." he added. "With armor-piercing capabilities." Carmelita said looking at Sly.

"But," Leigh said turning back to face them. "The most frightening thing they stole, was eighteen special mind controlling collars." They stared at him, completely silent. "Mind controlling collars?" Bentley said shaking his head. "They were meant for intelligence agencies. Hypnotize terrorists to give up their secrets. Also they would administer a drug that would throw the wearer into a violent rage, controllable by the one holding the remote." Leigh said rubbing his head. Out of the corner of Sly's eye, he saw Murray shiver slightly. He knew all to well what had happened to Murray in the prison in Prague.

"But they haven't placed any orders. So what are they doing?" Carmelita asked looking to all of them. "We'll soon find out." Sotoshi said from the corner.

Sly then leaned back on the table and said, "Well, when that happens, wake me up. I'm just gonna pass out now." he said shutting his eyes. "You do that, alright?" Carmelita said. Then she kissed him and let him sleep. She then went into the kitchen to wash her hands. "How bout you guys get some sleep, huh?" Leigh said looking to his crew. "I'll take watch." They nodded and started leaving the room. Murray stood rooted to the spot just staring at Sly. "Don't worry pal, he'll be okay." Bentley said and rolled to the sofa in the living room. After a moment the hippo sniffled and then went up stairs with the others. Only Leigh and Carmelita stayed downstairs.

Leigh grabbed one of the shotguns, dropped himself on the couch with a groan, set his legs on the coffee table, and then popped another pill in his mouth. Bentley was as observant as ever an noticed this process. "What's that for?" he asked as Leigh stuffed the bottle back into his jacket. "Heart trouble." the wolf said without looking at him. Carmelita then came in and dropped next to him. She just sat silently, thinking. Truth be told she was relieved. A day after he proposed, she came close to losing Sly. "Thank you, Leigh." she said putting her hand on his shoulder. "Not taken." he said. Both Carmelita and Bentley looked at him. "Because he would have done the same. For me, or you." he then shifted his position so that he faced the door, and then shut his eyes.

Bentley then leaned back in his chair, and said, "Is something happening between you and Sly miss Fox?" Both her and Garret said, "Getting married." "Really?" Bentley said eyeing Carmelita with surprise. He was proven it when Leigh, eyes still shut picked up her hand and showed Bentley the ring. "Leigh how do you do that?" Carmelita asked dully. "Just can." he said simply and let go of her hand.

Then he pointed to the stairs, "You two go on up. Get some sleep." he said and his ears perked up. "But what if some gets in?" Bentley said, doubting his own ingenuity on the locks of the door. Leigh opened his eyes and stared at him. "If anyone wants in that don't belong in, they'll not get by me." he said, looking almost frightening in the lack of light. "Besides," he said shutting his eyes again. "I'm a light sleeper."

Carmelita nodded and said, "Come on Bentley. We're not needed." She knew better then trying to argue with Leigh Garret. Both the vixen and the turtle then went up stairs, Bentley by the escalating platform built by himself.

Sly was sound asleep by then. By then Garret was asleep as well, in the partially light safe house.

_The rocket exploded and Leigh was thrown backwards. After hitting the ground he began looking with a hands, trying to find a wound, any wound on his body. After seeing he was unhurt he was up and found his L85A2 was sliced in half. The only other weapon he saw was the L96 Accuracy International sniper rifle. It was better then nothing. After picking it up he saw the lynx trying to pick himself up. "You alright Dave?" He said picking him up and sitting him down on the berm. "Fine. Wish I had a cup of tea though." he said smiling. "Very funny sergeant." Just then there was screaming from their side of the berm. Leigh surveyed the situation and thought it over. "Dave, get back to sergeant Hope and tell him to flank them from the right." he said to the lynx. "No I'll stay they need an officer." Dave said. He then noticed the sniper rifle pointed at him. "Now Coleman." Leigh said through his gritted teeth. After a moment the lynx growled and said, "Fine dammit!" he then dove to the ground and started crawling away. Leigh turned and ran to the screaming. He was not going to leave his men. He wasn't._

Leigh was beginning rolling in sleep, the shotgun in his hands. The dream was beginning to really bother him. Then when he started waking slowly, the he felt the shotgun's trigger in his hand. Before he knew it, the weapon hit the table causing his hand slipped, jerking the trigger. The weapon discharged with a thunderous roar and the buckshot completely obliterated the pillow next to him. Feathers scattering everywhere.

He yelled as he fell of the couch and was back on his feet through a cloud of white feathers. His eyes were wide and he was pointing the weapon at the invisible attacker who he couldn't see through the feathers. Sly had fallen off the table in terror and broke two chairs as he hit the ground face first.

Everyone upstairs came running down with some type of weapon. Penelope had a large wrench in her hands, Bentley his crossbow, Murray his mitts, and the inspectors their pistols. "What the hell's going on?!" Pengelly shouted as he hit the ground running.

By now Leigh had stopped looking for the non existent enemy and lowered the shotgun. He looked around and saw his mates all looking at him, after the feathers had settled. He then noticed that he had some in his mouth. He coughed expelling them, and then looked at the electric clock on the wall, it was 6 A.M. He looked back to the others starring at him with disbelief or irritation. "Morning." he said. They all said nothing.

He gently set the Remington down on the table and pointed to the door. "I'll uh, I'll get some breakfast." he said, grabbed his hat and quickly exited out the door.

_So what did you all think? The end's sorta funny huh? That idea just popped into my head._

_By know I'm sure, your all wondering what is this nightmare he's having? Patience children I'm hinting at it, but it will be explained when the time comes._

_Okay review and tell me what you think. Until Chapter 8 enjoy._


	8. Chapter 8

_Okay Chapter 8 is up and running._

_Quick recap; Sly was shot but treated by Leigh, Sly and Carmelita are gonna get married, and the gang are hunting the Renegades Syndicate. Did I miss anything? Nope? good._

_To those who haven't already read in the reviews, and anonymously I'm sure, that some think I'm not being completely realistic about this story, some say I didn't do my research or that I used the wrong methods. No, I'm not upset in anyway shape or form. In fact I applaud those who give their professional and constructive criticism. I am an inexperienced author and I sometimes can not think clearly on certain subjects. But I am doing what hundreds of my fellow authors are doing; expressing what comes naturally to them, seizing the opportunity of writing their creations down in their favorite worlds of film, games, music, books, and otherwise, and have fun in the process. To any and all of my faithful readers, and those in that group that give their commentary, I thank them from the bottom of my heart._

_And I'm sorry for getting in late. My computer connections on the fritz._

_Alright enough useless talking, time for reading!_

Chapter 8

A month had past since Sly had both proposed and got shot. He had recovered extremely quickly and was up and on his feet by then. During that course of events he had begun speaking with Carmelita about the soon to be wedding. They decided to have it in another month with Bentley as the best man and as for the bridesmaid, it would be Penelope.

The case on the Renegades was going, surprisingly well. They already seized half the weapons, including all the machine guns. But there was still the matter of the liquid explosives and the remaining weapons, including the collars. The gang had split up all over Paris trying to figure out more.

"So where you going for the honeymoon?" Leigh asked as he folded his hand. Sly was so focused on his ace of diamonds and king of hearts that he failed to hear that. "Hmm? What's that?" he said flustered. "I said, 'where are you two going for the bloody honeymoon?'" Leigh said again. "Oh. Uh, not sure. Maybe somewhere in Europe." Bentley raised and Leigh leaned back. "Well, I know a bloke who owes me a favor in Venice. Get you two a nice five star." Sly though it over and nodded. "Maybe." he said and called.

Leigh pulled the flop, revealing the king of diamonds, the ace of spades, and the five of spades. "Raise." Sly said and threw in twenty euros. Bentley looked at his cards, nodded and called. The next card was the king of clubs. Sly took a quick glance at his cards and checked and the turtle also checked. Leigh then turned the final card over. It was the three of spades. Sly then raised and the pot now had three hundred euros in it. "Bentley?" He said as the turtle was quiet and calculating. Finally he said, "One hundred and fifty-seven euros, all in." he said and shoved his whole pile into the center of the table. Sly smiled, looked at his cards and chuckled. "Guess I'll call you." he said and shoved his pile into the middle. The winner would get roughly five hundred euros. Leigh nodded and said, "Right lads. Show em." Sly flipped his cards over revealing a full house. "Nice, huh?" Sly said smiling. And he started pulling the bundle of cash to him. "I don't think you should celebrate yet Sly." Bentley said as he stopped him. He turned his cards over revealing the two and four of spades. A straight flush. "What?!" Sly said as he saw the cards. "Oh!" Leigh said. Bentley with some difficulty pulled the large wade of cash back to him. "Thanks Sly." Bentley said and pulled into his lap then wheeled away.

"Dang it!" Sly said still stunned over the loss. "I just lost a quarter of a thousand bucks!" Leigh just shrugged and pulled his money back into his pocket. "You can't win every time, mate." he said and went into the kitchen. "Hey! Whose turn is to make dinner tonight?" Leigh called into the living room. "Uh, I think Mallary's." The crew decided to make meals from there own countries and use different cuisines from different regions. "That's good. Like her Cajun."

Just then Carmelita and Sotoshi walked in. Carmelita had a roll of paper in her hands. "So what did you find out?" Sly said as he got up and cleared the table of glasses and other things. "The place is a fortress. This warehouse is more secure than Fort Knox or Buckingham palace." she said as she spread the blue print over the table. "Nothing's impossible in this life Carmelita." Leigh said coming out of the kitchen a towel in his hands. He looked it over quickly and nodded. "We can get in, we'll just need maybe a few tanks, a couple of rocket launchers, and a set of bollocks like the king of Beone." the others laughed and then Bentley came back in and looked it over.

After looking it over for a few minutes he pointed to a spot. "What about this ventilation shaft? Could Sly maybe get in that way?" Leigh and Sly looked it over and Sly nodded. "I haven't lost the talent yet." Leigh sighed and also nodded. "Right and I can have some of the guys ready in case you get into any trouble, right here." he pointed to a spot indicating a door way and then said. "Mallary can provide sniper cover and keep a good eye on you." Carmelita looked over the blue print more carefully. "Well, if the guns are in there, then we'll put a serious hurt on the Renegades."

"Well in the mean time, You and me are gonna take a little visit." Leigh said, pointing at Sotoshi. "To who?" Bentley asked looking up at the wolf. "Remmy Benedict. An old American snitch of mine. If the guns are there, then he'll know about it." The panther nodded and said, "Well then, let us speak to him."

Across town in a small house a frightened gazelle was busy packing his things. He knew he was in trouble. He just didn't know who would find him first, the police or the others he heard bad things about. He was about to close his suit case when the door behind him burst open and two German shepherds came in and grabbed the gazelle by the arms before he could do anything. Both the dogs were wearing gloves and had SIG pistols in their belts. "Hey who are you guys? What do you want?" the gazelle said and stopped struggling when he saw who else was stepping through the threshold. It was a tall greyish-brown wolf, with green eyes. He stopped right in front of the gazelle and said simply, "Hello, Mr. Benedict."

Leigh and Sotoshi, Soto as everyone was now calling him, had just stopped at a red light. "So what do you think this man, this Benedict knows?" Soto asked. "Not sure, but if he does know anything, I'll break him fairly quickly. Remmy's not the courageous type." Leigh said, turning the radio's volume up. The song playing was _Burn it to the ground_ by the Canadian band Nickelback. "Hmm, I like these blokes."

After a half hour drive they arrived at the house Benedict was supposed to be at now. The run down house with termite damage and fungus growing out of it wasn't so shocking to Leigh. What was, the fact that the door was ajar. "The hell? Remmy never leaves a door open." he said turning to Soto. Both of them withdrew their sidearms and slowly exited the truck. Leigh raised his .45 in his right hand as he slowly pushed the door open. Soto raised his Sig 9mm and entered the house. Leigh followed right behind him. "I'll get the kitchen." Leigh said and vanished from sight. Soto using his army experience, swept through the rooms fairly quickly.

"Soto." Leigh called out from the kitchen. "I found him." The tone in Leigh's voice told the panther that it wasn't good. Soto walked into the kitchen to see Leigh kneeling over a very bruised, a very bloodied, and a very dead gazelle. "Benedict?" Soto asked, expecting the answer. Leigh nodded and looked back at the gazelle. "From the looks of it, nearly killed him getting the information. Then someone who knew what they were doing, snapped his neck."

That's when Soto noticed a small brief case on the counter. "What's this?" Soto pointed and Leigh got to his feet. "Not sure." he said and slowly unhinged the locks and hands completely still, opened the case. Inside was the same chemicals Charlie showed him a month ago. They were already mixed and the time read 6 seconds. "OUT!" Leigh shouted and both men bolted to the living room windows. Without even thinking they both leapt out the windows and the bomb detonated.

The force of the explosion threw both of them out the windows and into the dead lawn outside. Both men groaned and grunted as they hoisted themselves up. Leigh then smelled something other then wood and paint burning, and in fact noticed his left leg was on fire. "Whoa!" he said and began viciously slapping the flames till they were out.

"You alright?" Leigh asked Soto, who nodded and asked the same question. "Fine." Leigh said and got to his feet. "If Remmy knew anything, he spilt it." he said as the house burned in front of them. And everything inside began to incinerate.

Sly was busy stretching out, the shot to his stomach even though it had healed, was still sore and stiff now and then. "So, What's on your mind?" he asked Carmelita, who was sitting down on the sofa. "Well, let me think." she said almost sarcastically. "I'm on a major case, I'm a very influential officer at Interpol," she said standing up, and embraced the raccoon. "And I'm marrying a thief." They then kissed and then she stared deep into his chocolate brown eyes. "And I'm liking it." she added smiling.

At that moment the door opened up and the two pulled away. The door opened fully and revealed a very blackened, singed, and slightly bruised Leigh Garret and Sotoshi Kenbashi. The only thing Sly could think of was, "Who won?" Leigh looked down at himself and started dusting himself off. "What happened?" Carmelita asked as the two men walked in. "Somebody beat us to Benedict. Killed him and nearly killed us too." Leigh said wiping his face off with a towel.

"I don't suppose this has anything to do with what happened at the warehouse." Carmelita said, sitting down. Leigh stopped what he was doing and placed his hand over his eyes. "Let me guess. The contents were moved and the warehouse torched?" he asked looking at her. "Yeah." she nodded. Leigh slowly brought his fist down on the table. "Dammit." he muttered. "How'd they find out about this?" Sly asked throwing his arms out. "I'm not sure." Leigh answered shaking his head. "But it doesn't matter now. We're back to square one to finding the rest of those guns."

A week later proved nothing. The guns and the Renegades had dropped off the radar. On the other hand, things were happening between the crew. Mark and Mallary were spending more time with each other, Sly and Carmelita were still discussing the wedding and Leigh was found packing for England. "I always leave this time of year, Sly." he said as he finished zipping the suit case up. "That still doesn't explain why." The raccoon said. Leigh sighed as he dropped the luggage with a loud thud on the ground. "I'm heading out to Axminster in Devonshire to visit me family for a week. I just wish it wasn't because of tomorrow." he said the last sentence under his breath. "No kiddin'. Hey can me and Carmelita come with? We still haven't met your family." Leigh stopped on the spot. He lowered his head and began thinking. It took a minute but, without looking at the raccoon, he said, "Be ready in an hour."

"You want us to meet his family?" Carmelita asked when Sly told her. "Well, why not? You haven't meet them yet have you?" Sly said as he was busy packing for the trip. "No, but from what I'm told, it's kinda hard on Leigh." she answered as she handed him another shirt. "Well, it's a good way to more about him, besides it's a chance to get off the case for a little." Sly said folding the shirt. Carmelita thought it over. It was a good chance to know Leigh a little better. "Oh alright! I'll go with you."

After taking the Eurostar train from Paris to London, they were greeted at the Waterloo station by Leigh's brother Jessie. He was a very close image to his older brother, just having browner fur. "How are you brother?" Jessie asked as he and Leigh embraced each other, "Fine lad, and yourself." Jessie shrugged and said, "The same as always." Leigh eyed him suspiciously. "I can imagine." he said in a dark tone. Jessie cleared his throat and noticed Sly and Carmelita. "Who are your mates here?" he asked pointing at them. "They're me partners. That's Sly and his fiancee Carmelita." Leigh said as he slipped another pill into his mouth as his brother was distracted. "My congratulations." the younger Garret said shaking their hands. "Uh brother I hadn't expected you bringing company, so I brought the truck instead." Jessie said. Leigh patted him on the shoulder. "That fine, me and Sly can ride in the back. I've been in worse." he said. "That I _can_ imagine." Jessie said and helped Leigh toss the luggage into the bed of the truck.

Jessie then walked over and opened the passenger door, while taking off his black flat hat. "Ma'am." he said bowing and holding his hat across his chest. "Thank you." Carmelita said and turned to Leigh. "You got a gentleman for a brother Leigh." Sly then notice Leigh mumble something that sounded like, "I wish."

After getting in and driving off from London out into the neighboring shires, Sly saw Leigh had been quiet the whole time. "So what's the occasion?" he said, breaking an hour of silence. "What?" Leigh asked looking at the raccoon across from him. "Why are we in England with your brother? You said you were seeing family right?" Sly asked. Leigh sighed and turned away from Sly. "We're visiting my mother. She's..." Leigh hesitated, something that unnerved Sly. "My mother is a nutter." he said looking down. Sly was stunned at what he heard. "What? Why didn't you ever tell us?" Sly asked, a mistake he realized too late. Leigh gave him an angered look. "You think that's something I enjoy explaining?! That's a real nice topic. "Hello, I'm a cop, and my mother is insane!" he said, there was fire in his eyes. "Sorry. I'm sorry." Sly said holding up his hands. Leigh shut his eyes and began panting. "Me too." he said after a few moments.

"It all happened years ago," Leigh said, facing Cooper. "My father was hit and killed by a semi truck. It dragged him for nearly 140 yards and it took that tough bastard a week to die." Leigh said chuckling. "After that I was the closet thing to a father figure to Jessie," he said turning to see his brother in the cab, laughing with Carmelita. "And my little sister Allison. Then nearly a year later, My newest brother after being born, die from a heart defect. It sure didn't help after when I came back from Afghanistan. Then finally what did it was another hit to the family. She was one of the toughest people I knew, and it killed me too see her off to Glendale hospital." Leigh said putting his head in his arms. To see Leigh this miserable about his family, gave Sly more understanding about the wolf he barely knew. "So what happened that finally did it?" Sly asked. Another mistake. "That's something you and I will _never_ discuss." Leigh said without looking up. He put a lot of meaning into the 'never' part. With never, Leigh meant it.

After staying quiet for nearly two more hours, Jessie opened up the window in the back and said, "two miles to Axminster. Enjoying the ride?" Just then the truck hit a bump and it rattled Sly and Leigh violently. "No." both of them said in unison. Jessie smiled and closed the window back up.

They arrived at a small cottage a few miles outside of the town and started unloading. "Nice little place you got, Leigh." Carmelita pointed out. "Yeah, it used to be our mother's home. We paid it off and use it for family reunions." Leigh said as he picked up one of the suit cases.

Sly was completely quiet as he stared at the small home. Carmelita spotted this and put her hand on his shoulder. "Sly?" she asked looking at the crestfallen raccoon. "What is it?" Sly was still looking at the old house when he said, "This place," he then turned and looked her in her eyes. "It reminds me of the house, me and my parents..." he broke off and put his hand over his eyes. Carmelita knew the what he meant. She knew the story all too well. "It's alright _mi amante_. Lets just not think about it." She said holding him. He chuckled and said, "Easy for you to say." Then picked up his suit case and went inside.

After the sun had gone down, Leigh was preparing a Irish cuisine. "I learned how to make this when I was in Northern Ireland." he said as he started cutting up some potatoes. Just then there was three knocks on the door. Jessie opened it up to reveal a gray female dog with lopsided ears, and long black hair. She had a hat on and kept her head down. "Hey Alli!" Jessie shouted and embraced her. "Hello Jess." Allison said slowly. She sounded depressed.

"Hey there's my baby sister." Leigh said as he dropped the potatoes in the frying pan and then turned to Sly who was standing next to him. "Now can you flip em over when they start sizzling?" he asked and the raccoon nodded. "I wanna meet your sister first." Sly said and both of them left the kitchen.

Allison kept her head down as Leigh then hugged her tightly. Then he noticed that something was wrong. "Eh. What's up?" he said putting his hand on her cheek. She turned away. "What?" he asked again and this time succeeded in getting the hat off. "Alli?" he said this time with concern. Finally she raised her head. Carmelita and Jessie gasped and Sly looked stunned. Both of Allison's eyes were black, and her lower lip swollen. There was dried blood on her cheeks. Someone had repeatedly put their fist in her face, but hard.

When Leigh saw this he actually put his hand in his mouth and bit down hard. Hard enough to cause bleeding, that went completely unnoticed by the wolf. What he saw infuriated him. "Leigh. Leigh it was my fault." Allison said putting her hands on his arms. "It was me that started it. It wasn't Pete's fault."

Leigh began to breath hard and unevenly. He brushed his sisters hands off his arms and began walking to the door. "Leigh please! Don't!" she cried but he was already out the door. Sly and Jessie went after him immediately, while Carmelita took the distraught Allison and sat her down on the nearby sofa. The potatoes in the kitchen were now burning.

Leigh was marching towards his brother's truck when he appeared in front of him. "Leigh lets think about this." Jessie said and saw his brother face him. "Give...me... the keys, Jessie." he said and held out his hand. The younger Garret looked at the hand then back to the angered face. He then reached into his pocket and withdrew the keys. Leigh then snatched them away. Sly then appeared in front of the raging wolf, "Leigh your brother's right. Don't do anything rash." he said then felt the wolf's hand close on his shirt collar. "You boys have two choices; Tackle me or tag along." he said gritting his teeth. He then threw the raccoon aside then hopped in the truck.

Jessie then went over and picked Sly up. "You alright?" he asked and helped dust Sly off. "This is why I don't like him sometimes." he said and the two of them hopped in the bed and the truck sped off.

After maybe ten minutes of driving and it near pitch black they arrived at a small apartment building in town. Leigh stopped the truck and got out.

In the small building in apartment 7 on the second floor, was a small pit bull but with a large build. He was in a white tank top, his boxers, and still wearing his boots unlaced, just sitting down in a reclining chair, drinking. His name was Peter Genovese, or to his close friends Pete the bull. And against the opposite family's wishes and better judgement married to Allison Garret. Another downside was that he spent four years in prison for physically assaulting women and small children.

Just then he heard the door knock. He grunted and muttered as he got out of the recliner. "Must be the goddamn wife crying back to me." he said half amusing himself. He strode over to the door and unlocked it. When he opened it however it wasn't Allison. Instead he was looking at three men. "Ello Pete." Leigh said casually.

The pit bull then slammed the door shut and braced against it. Leigh then drove his foot into the door and the force then threw Pete off it. Garret kicked it again, and from the immense strength from both natural and the adrenaline through his veins, that door didn't stand a chance. It flew off it's hinges and Leigh ran inside. Just as soon as the bull got to his feet, he had Leigh on top of him. The wolf swung hard with his fist, and connected to the pit bull's face. He then jabbed him in the stomach. Every blow was like being hit by a truck. He then lifted the dog off the ground and threw him out into the hallway. Sly and Jessie jumped out of the way in time to see the dog hit the wall.

In a heartbeat, despite being bruised and already bloodied, Pete got to his feet and ran for the stairs. "Come here!" Leigh shouted as he followed the drunk pit bull. Leigh being faster caught Pete just as they reached the stairs. He pushed the dog and he went tumbling down the flight. He smacked the ground with his face and struggled to get up. Leigh went down the steps and Pete grabbed hold of the bannister. Leigh drove his fists in the dogs face repeatedly. He then tried to pry Pete's hands apart. When they refused he leaned down and sank his teeth into the dog's forearm. The pit bull screamed as the wolf's teeth sank deep into his arm. Leigh then tried to pick Pete up and only managed to succeed in pulling off one of his boots. In frustration he threw the boot at Pete, who finally let go of the bannister. People from other apartments had started coming out to see what was going on.

The pit bull was now on all fours, with Leigh still kicking him hard. Finally Garret bent down, picked him up and hurled him through a glass door. He then stayed still where he landed. He was still alive, very badly injured, but alive non the less. Breathing hard, Leigh then said, "If you **EVER** come near my family again," he pointed at the barely conscious Pete. "I'll kill you." Leigh then spat at the dog, turned and left out the door.

Sly and Jessie horrified at what they saw came down the stairs and saw Peter Genovese's battered and broken body. Sly turned to one of the residents and said, "Call an ambulance." Then he and the younger Garret ran out the doors into the night.

_Well now, I know who _not_ to piss off eh? Again sorry it took so long to get it finished, but getting it finished is all that counts right? Alright just wait for the next chapter. Until next time._


	9. Chapter 9

_Alright Chapter 9 is up and running. Sorry for the delay, I was killin' myself just trying to come up with stuff. This isn't easy to think of this you know! Plus I lost the original file, so I had to restart from scratch._

_It's obvious that Leigh has a violent nature. But it's best to think of him like a coin. On one side you have a violent, scarred and a near psychotic nature. On the other you got a loyal inspector, a good hearted man, an unlimited determination, and a willingness to fight and die for his friends and family._

_In this chapter, you'll be introduced to the main antagonists of the story. You'll be very surprised. I guarantee it._

_Enjoy._

Chapter 9

A few days had passed since the incident at Allison's apartment. During which it was best that she stayed at their parents house. Also Pete Genovese had vanished. Everyone looked at Leigh, who protested his innocence.

Jessie went out for some business, and Allison went to work, leaving, their brother, Sly and Carmelita alone at the house. Sitting at the table, they were quiet. "So what do you think the other's are up too?" Carmelita asked breaking the silence. Sly shook his head. "I'm not sure, but I know Bentley is working to see if he can find anything on our favorite syndicate."

The weather, as Sly and Carmelita found out, was the wettest and coldest part of northern Europe. It seemed to rain most of the week and when it wasn't it was foggy. It was the only thing in England they weren't enjoying. So far.

Just then Leigh's cell phone began to ring. "Hello." He said. "Leigh, it's me." He heard Allison's voice on the other end. "Alli? What's going on?" "I can't find Jessie anywhere." Leigh was mildly surprised. "I think I know where he is. Don't worry Alli." He hung up his phone and went for his jacket. "What's up?" Sly asked. "Ah, my brother's in trouble, _again_." After slipping on his jacket he made for the door.

"I'll take care of it. In the meantime you two should focus on your wedding outfits." He said opening the door. "You know, your right." Carmelita said. "I can't have him going to _my_ wedding in that old jacket and hat of his." Sly was taken aback by this remark. "Hey those are my father's things, you know." He said, with a mock insulted voice. Leigh grunted in irritation and step over the threshold.

"So what do you have in mind?" Sly asked. Carmelita shrugged and said, "Guess I'll invite my parents. And some friends I know from Madrid." Sly was sort of hoping that Mr. Fox wouldn't come. He greatly disapproved of Carmelita no only marrying a non-Spaniard but also a thief when she told him. Plus he also might bring one of his sisters, the one that doesn't shower for unknown and insane reasons.

"Now, c'mon." She said pulling him off the couch. "Where we going?" he asked smiling. "Into London. We need to get you some better clothes. I'm not marrying a bum."

A few hundred miles away, Bentley was typing away furiously at ThiefNet. He had been at it for hours. Penelope came in with a cup of coffee. "Maybe you should take a break." Bentley was very frustrated by now. "It just doesn't make any sense. I couldn't find **ANY** leads." He said bringing his fist down on the table. "Either they're not using _any_ technology or it's better than anything I've seen." Penelope put her hand on his shoulder. "Take a break. Just try again later." she said. Bentley sighed and nodded. "Your right. I'll try later." He pulled away from the desk and turned around. Just as they were about to leave, there was a small chime from the computer. When they turned, they saw a small window that said 'New Mail'.

Bentley wheeled over and clicked on the window. The message said,

_So you want to know about the Renegades, huh?_

The message sender was anonymous. Bentley and Penelope looked at each other. Bentley turned back and typed four words.

_What do you know?_

Leigh got out of the truck and looked up at the building. Ernie's Tavern was a local bar in London known for many drunken fights, gambling, and in cases, prostitution. _Why Jessie mills around here is beyond me._ He thought shaking his head as he entered. As he headed up the stairs he could heard American Jazz playing faintly.

After reaching the door at the end of the stairs, he quickly checked to see if the safety on his weapon was off. When it was he pushed the door open and stepped inside. He saw three pool tables and many booths where women were trying to talk 'business' with the many drunks inside.

He then saw at the bar his brother along with two Dingos, two Irish Setters and Ernie a fat black bear behind the bar, surrounding his brother. "You owe us a lot of boodle, Garret." one of the Setters said with a thick Irish accent. "I know I'm working on it. I'll get it to you next week." Jessie said his hands on his head. "Oh no, Jessie. You've owed me far too long." Ernie said shaking his head. "And I'm gonna get my money. _Now_."

Leigh knew what was coming so he stepped forward. "Oy. Sorry lads but he's still gonna owe you." he said casually. All of them looked at him, Jessie with shock and the others with surprise and anger. "And what are you? His daddy?" one of the Dingos said. "No, his brother. And a cop as well." he said sitting down next to them. "Can I get a drink?" Leigh said calmly. Ernie then stood in front of the wolf. "This punk owes me ཱ50,000. And I want it right now." Leigh turned to his brother. "He does, does he?" He then turned back to the fat bear. "Well, when he says he'll get it to you next week, he _means_ it." he said with force in his voice.

Without warning and with surprising speed, Ernie grabbed Leigh by his jacket collar and pulled him over the bar. He then flipped Leigh on his back and began strangling the wolf. Despite his weight he was very strong and Leigh couldn't get free. His legs began flailing around when he felt the stool he was sitting on. Without thought or hesitation he grabbed it with both his feet and then brought it up and slammed it into the bear's face. After he let go Leigh began gasping for breath. That was short lived when one of the Setters then hurled him across one of the pool tables. He slammed into the other tables that go everyone's attention.

"You bastard!" A Dingo yelled. Leigh saw that this guy was huge. He made a quick hook, that the dog then caught in his left hand. Leigh then felt his hand being broke by the massive Dingo. He looked over and saw a cue ball close enough to his left hand. He grabbed it and smashed the Dingo's hand and blocked a punch. After throwing him back Leigh turned and saw one of the Setters swing. He narrowly dodged it and the second one. Garret then kicked him in the face knocking him out. Before he could swing it completely over the table another Dingo grabbed his leg. Leigh then smashed his other foot into the Dingo. He flipped over landed on his feet when that gigantic Dingo kicked him in the back. He then grabbed Leigh and threw him at the table. Leigh instead slid under the table and out the other side. The Dingo was about to bring his fist down like an axe, so Leigh used the hanging lamp as a shield. No sooner had he did that the massive fist crashed through the lamp. Women screamed at the loud crashing and bolted for the door. Leigh barely avoided getting cut by all the flying glass as the Dingo collapsed.

One of the setters then began swinging a pool cue at him. When he leapt over the table the other Dingo was also swinging a cue at him. Frustrated Leigh then, while the Dingo was in mid swing, caught the cue and using his right arm snapped it in half. Using the same arm he whacked the dog in the face and sent him smashing into one of the smaller tables next to the wall. After shaking the pain out of his arm he faced off against the Setter again. He then caught one of the cues and then began using it against the Setter slamming it into his face. When the dog put his hand on his head, Leigh slammed it on the palm. While the dog recovered Leigh finished him off with a thrust to the stomach and then a knee to the face.

He breathed as he dropped the pool cue and said, "I just wanted a drink."

Meanwhile Sly and Carmelita were busy looking around the ritzy shops of London looking for Tuxedo and wedding dresses. "So how crazy do you want this thing to be, Miss Fox?" Sly asked with his usual suaveness. Before she could answer his cell phone started ringing. It was from Bentley. "Hey what's up pal?" "Well, Sly, I got some information on the Renegades. An anonymous source gave me a set of coordinates to where the leaders will be." Sly was impressed. "Well done Bentley. Where's the meet?" he asked, glancing at Carmelita. "I'm still working it out, but it looks like we're going to Romania. We'll gather up the team and meet you in Bucharest." Bentley said. Sly nodded, "Alright. We'll find Leigh and head out."

He hung up the phone and turned to the vixen. "We caught a lucky break." he said and began telling her what Bentley told him. Carmelita, however was not convinced. "I don't like this." she said and then pointed at her nose. "This is an old friend of mine, and it tells me something stinks." Sly looked taken aback. "I hope your not talking about me." Carmelita grinned. "Come on Sly. Get serious." she said and the two began walking back to the car. "Don't you think it's odd that an anonymous source would tell us where the leaders of a very secretive organization would be?" Sly then thought it over, it was odd, but also a good and probably the _only_ opportunity to even try. "Yeah it is. But we may never get this chance again." he said.

"Eh, besides we got to find Leigh." Sly said smiling. "Have to make sure that he isn't hurting himself or anyone else." Carmelita laughed and nodded. "Yeah, trouble seems to follow him."

After finding Leigh and explaining the situation he also didn't like the info, but agreed with Sly, as it might be awhile for the next opportunity. When asked what he did, he said he went to get a drink and find Jessie. When the younger Garret told them they were not surprised. "Can you stay out of trouble for more than ten minutes?" Carmelita asked dryly. "Yes I can. As a matter of fact, it was _eleven_ minutes when _they_ picked a fight with me." he retorted. Sly sniggered, but tried to hide it. Carmelita laughed with sarcasm.

After they bid farewell to Jessie and Allison, they boarded a plane and then spent the next four hours eating disgusting airline food and stopping Leigh from hurting kids that were repeatedly kicking his seat.

Romania; home to the greatest folklore legends, bitter cold, and a iron-tough people. Unfortunately for the team, the country was also gripped by civil war, by rebels to the north. That posed two problems; the first was that the Romanian army or even the Interpol division there would not be able to help. The second is that Bentley triangulated the coordinates by the source on ThiefNet, it was at the base of the Moldavian Carpathians mountain range, in an old temple, right in the middle of this civil war.

They weren't completely helpless however. The army did give them a Bandvagn206 tracked all terrain vehicle. The two trailers were mostly used by northern European armies and by Arctic scientists, now it was being used by ten Interpol officers. Murray was ecstatic on driving this new vehicle. Bentley and Penelope had also set up a small lab right behind Murray. The others waited in the back.

Everyone had their own ways of passing time. Mallary; an extremely devout catholic, was busy reading the bible. Mark was listening to an MP3 player. Luigi was writing in a small notebook. Pengelly was going through his kit, to see if he had everything he might need. Sotoshi, was leaning against a corner, looking out the window. Sly and Carmelita were talking to each other, and Leigh was sitting against the wall, apparently asleep.

"You know, I think this is the one country in Europe I _haven't _been to." Carmelita said to Sly. "It feels as cold as Russia." Sly nodded and turned to the vixen. "I wouldn't be surprised if it was." He said, shivering a little. "This doesn't feel like a country, it's more like a freezer."

It was all in all, very quiet amongst the group. After Sly and Carmelita had finished talking they just sat in silence. That was until a small watch alarm Leigh had, started to go off. He opened his eyes, looked at the watch, turned the alarm off and got up. He then headed outside to the first trailer. After a few minutes he came back and stood in the door way. "Right, we are less than ten minutes away from the temple, so get ready." he said as he step past them and picked up a G3A4 battle rifle.

Sly pulled out his .22 and Carmelita her shock pistol. Sly also noticed a single set of brass knuckles in her pocket. "What are those for?" he said quietly in disbelief. "If I'm in a fight, or you if your eyeing another woman." she added with sarcasm.

After reaching the temple, the team dismounted at a large section of the ruined temple. The ancient structure, when Romania was not part of Christendom so long ago, was built into the side of a mountain. Seeing this, Leigh shook his head. "This thing could bigger than it looks on the inside. Stay close." he said to the group. "Kinda odd a gun smuggling ring would meet all the way out here in this place." Mallary said looking around. "Actually it's perfect." Bentley said from inside the trailer. "It's a very remote place, in the middle of a civil war, and in a country whose government is weaker than it likes to believe."

Penelope was just hopping out of the trailer when Sly held up his hand. "Not this time Penelope. It could get loud inside." he said to the mouse. Feeling offended she brushed his hand aside. "I need to go and check out the fire power these guys got. And see if they got any tech on them." she said adjusting her coat. "But I'll stay back if push comes to shove." Seeing as he wasn't going to win this, Sly nodded. Leigh pointed to the turtle inside. "Bentley you stay here and keep an eye out. Mallary, Pengelly, and Murray you stay with him." They all but Murray nodded. "Why do I got to stay here?" he asked shrugging. "First; if any get by us you'll be here. Two; to cover Bentley and three; They got guns, and your not bulletproof." Leigh said, with a tone that said, 'that's the end of it.'

He turned back and asked, "Everyone got a walkie talkie? Don't want to get lost in there." After he looked at each of them he nodded and moved them out.

It was an intimidating feeling stepping though the large archway into the black corridor of the temple. Even more intimidating was the rows of statues on either side of the wall. They were faceless men, made of white stone, armed with a iron sword or a long iron spear.

Sly's eyes were darting back and forth, using his natural night vision to see if there was any movement in this unnerving place. But there was no activity of any kind. Not even small rats, or spiders. Nothing.

Penelope was beginning to get jumpy, she swore she kept seeing something moving out of the corner of her eyes. Everyone was getting nervous in their own way.

Leigh, Sly, Carmelita and Penelope were ahead of the group. After moving through a small archway, there was a monstrous _crack!_ Everyone froze. The cracking was getting worse, when Leigh saw it. The source was coming directly beneath them.

Before he could say anything the floor gave way and sent him, Sly, Carmelita and Penelope falling. They fell into a large tunnel that slide them down. Farther and farther they went. Their yells and screams echoed through out the tunnel.

Finally after maybe sliding for several seconds they burst out of the tunnel into a set of dangling roots. Out of pure instinct they grabbed hold. Penelope couldn't quite grab hold and fell backwards. Leigh who was beneath her, caught her leg and arrested the fall. The mouse looked up and said, "Thanks." Leigh nodded and looked up. "You two alright?" he shouted. "We're okay." Leigh turned his attention back to Penelope. "Grab the vine. Grab it." he said. After she did, he let go. He then reached into his belt and pulled out a large glow stick.

The small light was enough to illuminate the chamber they were in. The room was rectangular in shape. It was two stories, with no stairs anywhere. Just a large set of chains running up and down behind them. In front was a large pagan like symbol. Beneath several circles interconnected to each other on a circular stone platform. The platform was surrounded by a deep moat. Leigh also noticed an entry way that connected to the platform. And everywhere he looked there were more of the faceless soldiers.

"Sly! Leigh! Carmelita! Penelope! You guys copy?!" Mark's voice came from the walkie mikes on their shoulders. Sly pressed the receive button with is free hand. "We're alright." he said breathlessly. "Give us a minute."

"Alright. Penelope give me your 'and, and I'll swing you over." Leigh said and the mouse nodded. After climbing her way up, and Leigh threw the glow stick, she reached and grasped the wolf's outstretched arm. Leigh then began to swing her back and forth gaining momentum. Then when she was at the peak of the swing he let go. She landed safely on the second story floor. Leigh then looked up to the Coopers. "Sly, the same thing with Carmelita." Leigh said, grunting from moving vines. Once Carmelita was safe, Garret said it was Sly's turn. "I can wait." He objected. "Cooper, I'm not arguing with you." Leigh growled.

Before they said anything else, distant voices started creeping in. Leigh also noticed several spots of flashlights on the walls of the entry. "Sly." he said slowly. "Get off these things." When Sly still refused, he was then pulled off the vines by Garret. Leigh had grabbed his leg and with one strong move, hurled him over to the women. In a moment he followed them. Not a moment to soon either.

After Leigh had made his jump, several German Shepherds in winter Camouflage and boonie hats appeared. They had black combat vests and in their hands they were armed with G36 assault rifles. The same rifles from Talon arms. The team decided it was best to split up and get into different positions. Leigh and Penelope would take the top floor, and the Coopers the first. After they snuck down by a crack in the wall, Leigh took up position right behind the Renegades.

After maybe a dozen Shepherds appeared six more people walked in. The first four were draped in black leather looking armor and had Infrared goggles over their eyes. They were armed with the FN P90s.

The next person was clothed completely in a white cloak and hood. The figure kept it's head down, and it's hand in a cris-cross prayer position. Leigh then saw with his sharp eyes, that the grass that had been able to break through several cracks in the floor, began to wither and die when the figure stepped over them.

But it was the final man that got Leigh worried. He was in a black parka and cargo pants. He was a dog or a wolf of some kind as best as Garret could tell. _Is that-_ he thought, remember many hardships from his past.

"Morgan, is this the place?" The wolf asked the cloaked figure. The hood nodded and a whisper of an answer replied. "Yesss."

Then Morgan said, "There are others in this chamber." the cloak then slowly spun around. Then to Leigh's surprise one of the hands was lifted up and then pointed, at him. The man stopped, his ears twitched once. He bent his head down and chuckled. He turned him self and Leigh was looking into the wolf's deep green eyes.

Leigh was stunned at who he saw. "Travis." he muttered without knowing it. Travis then smiled and said, "Hello. Little brother."

_Were you surprised? I hope so._

_Again I'm sorry it took so long. I'm having some trouble with my PC, but down worry. I'm gonna keep working. I'm not giving this up. Review what you thought and any constructive criticism you might have. Ciao._


	10. Chapter 10

_I know I'm taking too long on these things, but I'm like the turtle vs. the rabbit. Moving along gradually. Plus my computer crashed, yes I lost another one. But now I got a laptop and I'm no using it for internet usage. And I've been tied down with other projects, family, and writer's block._

_Recap: It was Leigh's brother, Travis Garret, who is the leader of the Renegades. Why, will be explained later. Maybe not this chapter maybe in three. Who knows? Cause I don't._

_Alright now this is going to get weird and supernatural. So don't switch off because of this. Give it a chance!_

_Now Read!!_

Chapter 10

Leigh stood rooted to the spot. Even when the other Renegades trained their weapons on him. "Hold your fire." Travis said, holding up his hand. They obeyed, but didn't lower their weapons. Travis turned his attention back to his brother on the upper floor. "Are there others, Morgan?" he asked the cloaked figure. Morgan nodded and pointed to where Sly, Carmelita and Penelope were. "Tell me. Why are you here?" he asked in a shout. For a moment nobody said anything, before Carmelita yelled. "For you!"

"Ah. I see." Travis murmured. "Guess you didn't know it was me. Did you, little brother?" When he heard that, Leigh snapped back. "You are not my brother!" he yelled at him. "Ever since the day you betrayed us, you have _never_ been my brother." Travis laughed. A cold and lifeless laugh. "Is that suppose to discourage me?"

He decided to change the subject and said, "I bet your wondering why we're here." Leigh shook his head. "Not really." he said dryly. "Well I'll tell you anyway." Travis said, then pointed to the hooded figure. "My new friend, Morgan here, wanted to come out here, because it's part of her, I guess you could call it a 'religion'." Leigh scoffed and said, "All I see is the work of pagans."

Sly fidgeted behind the stone pillar, weapon in hand. He wondered why Leigh had exposed himself like he did, he had about twenty guns trained at him. He also saw that the G3 rifle was dangling by his side.

Travis then said, "This place might've been made by pagans, but that's irrelevant." He then leaned over and whispered something to the cloaked figure. The hood nodded and she stepped into the center of multiple circles. "You know why, brother?" Travis said up to Leigh. "I would feel more comfortable not to find out, and if you stopped calling me, 'brother'." Garret said gruffly. Travis merely chuckled. "Well I prefer calling you my brother rather than 'pig', and as for why I'm here, you'll find out."

Morgan turned back to the wolf and said, "The will not harm me, but I won't have command of them" Travis nodded. "That's quite alright milady. I'm interested how they fare."

Then Sly felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Carmelita saw a white mist appear when she exhaled, and Penelope felt chills running down her spin. Then everyone noticed Morgan was beginning to chant in a whisper. Leigh's sharp ears picked up what was Slavic escaping her mouth.

All the light in he room was beginning to dim, except around Morgan. It began getting darker and darker and Morgan was now surrounded by an aura of light. The aura became brighter and brighter until it exploded outwards. It knocked everyone, including both Garrets, off their feet. Some of the Renegades screamed as the force knocked them over.

Leigh got to his feet in a heartbeat. That's when he saw it, the bolts of light from Morgan. He threw himself to the ground when one shot at him. It then slammed into one of the stone soldiers and crackled all around it like electricity. It began that way with all of the soldiers in the room.

That's when the real danger began. To Leigh's shock, and everyone's for that matter the soldiers began to crack and break in sections. Then the soldier in front of Leigh began to move. It stepped off the pedestal and then raised it's sword. Leigh returned to his feet and raised his rifle like a shield blocking the heavy sword blow. He used all his strength to push the sword back and then angled the battle rifle at the stone warrior. He depressed the trigger and emptied the entire magazine into the soldier.

After the warrior fell to the ground in pieces, Leigh drew his .45 and found Penelope being chased by two Griffons that were closing the distance quickly. The same thing was happening in every corner of the room. The Renegades began shooting at anything that moved, the soldiers and the Interpol cops. Carmelita was firing shock rounds in all directions whether or not they hit a soldier or not. Sly was going hand to hand with three of them at once. Travis began shooting at two soldiers with swords in front of him. He only had a SIG Suer and was only able to bring one down, but not in time for the other which hurled it's sword at him. In an act of cruelty he grabbed one of the Renegade soldiers and used him as shield. The soldier screamed as the sword plunged deep into his chest, then slumped forward, dead. Travis then grabbed the dead Shepherd's G36 and threw him into the abyss. He leaned back as a spear flew past his head, then began shooting calmly.

The minor Renegades were taking tremendous losses, one caught a sword in the chest, and screamed as he plummeted into the abyss, and another became pinned against a pillar by a spear. Though they were outnumbered, they had the firepower. They began to spread out across the chamber, and the battle continued.

Leigh had followed both Penelope and the Griffons to the lower floor, still running flat-out. As he ran past a Renegade who was drawing his SIG GSR .45, he quickly reached out and snatched the weapon away. "Thanks mate!" He shouted not stopping after Penelope.

The mouse was still turning a corner when she tripped, at the same moment a Griffon was leaping right at her. It sailed over her and hit the ground hard. It rolled several times then slammed into a pillar, disintegrating it. Before the second Griffon could be on top of her, Leigh skidded around the corner and started blazing both .45 pistols. In just three seconds he had emptied both weapons and utterly destroyed the Griffon.

Sly narrowly dodged a spear that slammed into the wall next to him. He then quickly pulled the metal pole out and jammed it back into it's former user. He then spun around and hurled it into another soldier and it crumpled to pieces. Sly turned again and found himself face to face with another soldier. "Crap." he said, he was completely unarmed, his .22 empty, he had no way to defend himself. The soldier raised it's sword, then a blob of energy flew past Sly's head and blew the soldier to many pieces. He turned and Carmelita cocked her head with the expression of 'where's my thanks?'

"Sly! Carmelita! You kids alright?" Leigh called out from somewhere in the chamber. That's when they noticed it. Nothing. No noise, no gunfire, no fighting, nothing. When Sly looked the chamber was full of spent casings, dropped weapons, stone pieces, and dead Renegades. The others had vanished. Carmelita then saw Leigh appear near the front entrance, Penelope next to him. "Where's Travis?" she called to him. He shrugged. "Must've ghosted during the fighting."

After they had gotten organized, the question came up. "Why didn't you tell us you had a second brother?" Carmelita asked, sounding both disturbed and angry at Leigh's lack of information. Garret sighed. "You didn't needed to know." he said making for the door. Carmelita stopped him. "That wasn't your choice. If you knew your brother was involved…" she was cut short when Leigh grabbed her wrist tightly. "Choose your next words _very_ carefully, Fox." he said through his teeth. His eyes wild with rage. "Leigh! Let go of her." Sly said the anger in his voice mounting. Leigh hesitated for a moment the realized what he was doing and immediately released the Vixen. "Sorry." he said in a tired voice.

"Lets head back to the trailers." Leigh said rubbing his neck. "I'll explain everything there." They agreed and the four of them head back through the ruins. During the way back the others heard Leigh muttering indistinctively. The words they could make out were, 'can't believe it' and 'he's still alive?' Almost insane mutterings. What ever Travis had done to Leigh in the past, it was coming back to haunt him.

Carmelita radioed for the others to return to the trailers, and also asked if they had seen anyone at their place. The answer was no. It was as if they had just vanished.

"Travis was always a wild one. I just didn't think it would drive him to madness. Both of us went to Afghanistan, he as a Crusader commander, I as a Marine commando. During a patrol in the Khyber pass, his Crusader was hit by a rocket propelled grenade, he made it. The rest of his crew didn't." Leigh began, telling the story of his older brother. The story of how his brother fell. "After both of us came home he began drift deep in the underworld. Small things like grand theft, extortion, but then he became worst, smuggling guns, kidnappings, and then…" he stopped remembering what had caused his family so much pain. He took his time, trying to word it appropriately. Finally he said, "He killed three people in cold blood. People he grew up with." He sighed heavily and lowered his head. "The evidence was however, circumstantial. He only got three years, breaking and entering." The others were stunned. A psychotic killer only three years in prison. "After that, he disappeared. But the damage was done. The victims were dead, and we lost our mother." He then raised his head, his eyes filled with rage. "That's when I swore, to bring him and all his kind either to prison, or to hell." he said slowly. He stood up and looked all of them in the eyes. "I'm going to keep that promise. If anybody wants to back away, this is their last chance."

The others thought it over and made their decisions. "Well," Carmelita said standing. "I've known you for four years, haven't lost my pace with you yet. Not planning on it now." Sly thought the hardest on it. "I guess I can't let you fight this alone. Count me in." he said. Then turned to his crew. "Bentley?" he asked his childhood pal. The turtle smiled. "I think I speak for all of us. We go where you go." Sly nodded, thanking his crew silently. He would need them before the end, this he was aware of. Mallary began rubbing the cross that hung around her neck. "The almighty has a plan for everything. I'm sure that mine is to help you see this through." Leigh noticed that Luigi had his hands on his face. "You alright over there, Luigi?" he asked. "I- I don't- I-" Luigi stammered. He took his hands off his head, and looked Leigh in the eye. "What ever you think." Leigh nodded. "Well I don't share the enthusiasm of the rest of you." Mark said dryly. "You know me. Once more into the breach, dear friends." he added, shrugging. Leigh then turned to Pengelly. "Rog?" The dog smiled. "Every problem can be solved with the proper amount of explosives." he nodded. "And you?" Leigh said facing Sotoshi. The panther nodded, not saying a word.

Leigh sat back down, he quickly swallowed another one of his pills and sighed. "Thank you. All of you." he said feeling humbled by these brave volunteers. "I'm going to ask you to sacrifice a lot for this. Knowing Travis, he'll drag this out till the day of judgment if he has too." Leigh knew that would happen. He knew his brother, knew what he was capable of. "If we are going to survive this, we'll have to be hard on them. This is going to be a no holds bar fight to the finish." he sighed, crossing his arms. "Leigh. We all decided to help you." Sly said, feeling more confident than ever. "And that's what we are gonna do." Leigh leaned back deep in thought. For once Leigh didn't feel alone.

"And what do you feel about this, Garret?" Mallary asked. Everyone turned their attention to Leigh, their comrade, and their friend. "Honestly?" he asked not even facing her. "I'll face him all the way to hell."

_Finally! Another chapter is finished. Believe me, I have maybe too much planned for this. It'll be a challenge to decided what and what not to put in this. But I'll manage._

_Review what you thought and any tips you might have, and I'll see what I can do kids._


	11. Chapter 11

_Alright Chapter 11 is (obviously) up and running. Sorry it took so long, I had some things to deal with._

_As anyone might guess things are getting more interesting, and it's only gonna have more and more._

Chapter 11

Two weeks had pasted since the group returned to Paris and again the Renegades just vanished. This was both a frustration, and a relief to the Interpol cops. It had given them more time to study up on the older Garret. What they found was that he had been a for hire soldier for the McCall Irish mafia, a suspect in an assassination of a world leader, slavery shipping, the list continued extensively. His jacket was three inches thick.

This obviously did not bode well with Leigh. He didn't focus on that at the moment though. He just got a letter from England, Jessie was in trouble again. Leigh decided that he would leave Carmelita on the case, as he and Sly headed back to Devonshire.

After the trip by train and chauffeured by Allison who met them at the station, they found that Jessie wasn't at the house. What they did find was something that shocked even Leigh. It was a three-leaf clover pinned to the door. The calling card of The McCall mafia.

The McCall's were run by Thomas McCall and his half brother Kieron McMillan. They were made of exiled members of IRA soldiers and radicals from southwestern Scotland. Both of which hated the English with a passion. On that note they generally hang English hostages by their ankles over street lights, then brutally slash them with half sharpened blades that were dipped in feces. Most don't survive this brutal treatment.

Leigh knew he had to find his brother and fast. Because if Jessie was in trouble with the McCall's, he would but both humiliated and murdered. Leigh quickly took Jessie's truck and headed for London.

There Leigh began looking at every known place Jessie spent his time. Bars, motels, and childhood hiding spots. Unfortunately after hours of searching, he still hadn't found his brother. On the fringe of losing hope, there was only one place left, a rooftop building in downtown London, that overlooked the Thames. If he didn't find him there then he was as good as dead.

Leigh burst through the door, hoping to find Jessie right there in front of him. But that wasn't the case. Jessie wasn't in front of him, nor did it seemed that he was on the roof. Leigh out of anger kicked a nearby box, which went flying into the stairwell entrance.

Garret's ear twitched as he did that. He had heard a small yet distinctive sound. The sound of someone stifling a yell. He looked around and then he saw an air conditioner vent. Leigh then used his strength and pried the cover off. He was startled by a sudden scream after he pulled the cover off and fell backwards. Then he realized who it was. "Jessie!" he shouted and got to his feet. The younger Garret rolled out of the vent and the brothers embraced. "God, next time tell me where you are." Leigh said, as his brother's eyes were filled with fright and tears. Judging by the condition of his clothes, he had been there for maybe a day or so. "What were you thinking, Jess?!" Leigh shouted at him. "I-I don't know, I panicked! I uh didn't know um they were McCall's boys." Jessie stammered.

Leigh called Sly and told him to come there, and said he would need to get his family out of England. He hung up the phone and walked his brother out of the building. "Wait here." he said to Jessie after they left the building. "I'll get the truck." The younger Garret leaned against the wall, tired and sore. Hiding in that vent shaft have not been good to him. "Hello Garret." he heard a voice next to him. Hearing it, Jessie tried to run, but found himself shoved back against the wall. The two Irishmen holding him were obviously stronger then the younger Garret. The third was the smart one of the group. "I'm disappointed by you Garret. I thought you would be smart enough to leave the country by now." The Setter said, a serrated brown knife in his hand. In an instant his other hand was around Jessie's throat. Jessie started gasping for air and his eyes were very wide when the blade was resting below his chin. "Now where is our money?"

Before the Garret could answer, there was the sound of a hammer cocking behind the Setter. "I suggest you hand me that blade, slowly." Leigh said resting his newly acquired GSR pistol on the back of the dog's head. "Do you know who I am?" The Irishman said, sounding annoyed. "Would your name be ugly-ass mick?"

Just then two police officers came around the corner and saw the stand-off. They quickly drew their side arms and shouted, "Armed-Police! Drop the weapons!" Leigh held up his free hand, "Inspector Garret. Interpol." The officers didn't seemed to respond, "Drop the weapon." At that moment Sly pulled up and ran up to the police. "Officers, he and I are Interpol inspectors." he said showing his badge to one of them. "How you doing Leigh?" Sly said, drawing his .22 pistol. "Need I answer?" he responded. Then he turned his attention back to the Irishmen. "Now I'll say it again. Give me the blade or I will kill you."

The Setter saw that Leigh was dead serious. He thought it over and nodded. "Alright boyo." he said taking the knife away from Jessie's chin. The younger Garret breathed a sigh of relief as the Irishman then handed the blade to Leigh. "Alright lads, we're not wanted here. Lets go." The larger Setters released Jessie and the three of them walked to the waiting police officers.

As they were being hauled off, Sly tucked his weapon back into the holster. "You certainly know how to cause trouble, you two." he said as he watched the Setters and policemen disappeared around the corner. "So what do you think?" he asked to Leigh as the exhausted Jessie slid down the wall. "They'll be out tomorrow. They didn't do anything wrong in the eyes of the law." Leigh said ruefully. That was the truth. Though they had assaulted his brother, they didn't do anything wrong.

Then Jessie returned to his feet, and stood before his brother. "Thank you Leigh. I'm sorry I buggered up again." he said dropping his gaze to his feet. "Hey." the older Garret said, ruffling his brothers hair. "Never you mind." he said grinning. Just then an angry rumbling came from Jessie's stomach. "C'mon lets find some food."

After Leigh had returned with Sly and his brother back to the family home, he decided it was best to send his family to Spain. He had a few favors that had been owed to him over the years. "You think they'll be safe there?" Sly asked. Leigh shook his head. "I don't know. But what I do…" he said glancing at his brother, who was still shaken. "If he keeps gambling, I'll kill him myself."

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Back in Paris, Penelope was busy typing away at the many computer screens in front of her. She was researching the temple they had been at two weeks prior. Carmelita was sipping at some coffee when Penelope called her over. "What's up?" she asked as she knelt down next to the mouse. "Take a look at this. I took a few pictures of the temple in the Balkans, and started looking around for any unusual archeological digs like it. This is what I got." She rolled out of the way too show the results.

Carmelita leaned in closer, and was surprised. "Japan, Russia, England, Finland, India, South America?" She looked at the mouse, "This can't be right. I mean I can understand Europe, but not everywhere." Penelope nodded. "I know, but the really strange thing, is that all of them have the same architect, and hieroglyphics. I did some more digging and found it's got many similarities to both Egyptian, Incan and Aztec languages." She said, taking off her glasses and polishing them. She also sighed heavily, she had been working non stop for ten hours. "The really weird thing, and slightly frightening, is that the glyphs all say the same thing." The mouse shivered slightly, and faced Carmelita. "It's says, 'He shall return.' Over and over, it says the same thing." she then held up her hand, "Before you ask, I already checked for anything that might be a reference. What I did find was this." She press a few keys, and a picture of a large black bird appeared.

The bird's wings were spread at full length, and above it's head. The talons were at it's lowest, and the talons were spread. It was the image of a bird of prey, going in for the kill. An Image, Carmelita was glad Sly wasn't seeing, because this was an image that even today kept Sly up certain nights. "You don't think this has anything to do with…" Penelope began but stopped. Carmelita shook her head. "I doubt it. The odds of _him_ coming back are almost non existent." She said walking to the living room. "Almost?" Penelope said sounding very concerned.

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After Leigh and Sly got Allison, and Jessie on the plane bound for Madrid, They decided to head back to Paris. During the drive back to Interpol, Sly was talking about his marriage that was only three weeks away. "You got any opinions about this, or you just gonna listen?" Sly asked. Leigh had not said a word since Cooper began. "Well lad, it's your wedding, I really don't have an opinion. Only that I wish happiness for three years and sympathy for twenty." The two laughed, and Leigh's cell phone began ringing.

"Garret." he said answering it. "Hey Carmelita." he said keeping his eyes on the road. "What do you got?" _We got a lead on the people Travis associated with in prison._ "Oh, aye?" Leigh said getting into a business mood. _Yeah, first we got Daniel Hazer, born in York, served in Iraq. Arrested for fighting, and striking a superior officer._ Leigh thought about it and nodded. "Yeah I know about the charge, I was the officer he hit." he said his hand on his jaw. _Okay, next is Simon Reynolds, born in London, army in Iraq, arrested for smuggling and gun running. And we got, jeez. _"What?" Leigh asked._ Uh, we got Marcus Geiger, this guy's huge I'm not kidding. English citizen, Iraq, arrested for participating in illegal cage fighting._ "I take it that he's a good friend of Hazer?" _Yeah that's right._ "Okay so we know who the leftenants are. Don't we?" _Yeah and get this, All three of them were in the same prison as Travis and all released eight months ago. _"That would've been plenty of time to set up an operation, knowing Travis." Leigh said stopping at a light.

Carmelita began pacing back and forth with the phone in the living room. "Listen Leigh, that Temple we were at, There were some hieroglyphics that I don't want Sly to know about. Some old memories." She said. There was a pause at the other end. Then she heard Leigh's voice. _Don't worry lass. I understand completely._ _I got some old memories I want to forget too._ And then the line disconnected.

"Hey what was that about?" Sly asked, but Garret shook his head. "Nothing mate. She's just worried about you." Sly scoffed. "We aren't even married and she's already a nervous wreck."

Later back at Interpol, Sly was busy checking with Barkely on weekly reports. Leigh sat at his desk, quickly swallowed another pill. "Well, Well if it isn't the local drunk." a voice said next to his desk. Just then an Ocelot appeared in front of him. "Walker. What do I owe this unpleasantly?" The Ocelot's name was Joseph Walker, the local fool of the division, he handled the investigations for Terrorism. This also made him a jerk, to which he also moonlighted with small and local gangs. "I'm just curious as to how the great half-breed is doing?" Walker said with a smirk. Leigh furrowed his brow, that was a great insult to Leigh and his family. "Fine, are you still scum hiding behind a badge?" Garret said, his face impassive. "Look it ain't my fault that you and that ex thief don't like me, just because I'm going after terrorists and your not. No need to bitch about it." Walker said, Leigh just shook his head. "You are an idiot. The reason I don't like you," he said getting to his feet, standing in front of the black Ocelot. "Is because I enjoy dispensing justice with scum. You exploit it." Then the Wolf grinned. "And believe me, when I'm don't with this case I'm on, I'll ask for the pleasure of ripping that silver off your chest."

Walker glared at Leigh and turned and walked away. It was right after that Sly came back. "What was that about?" he asked, watching Walker shove past another inspector. "Just him being himself." Leigh said and Sly scoffed. "Yep the village idiot if you ask me." the raccoon said and the two headed back out to Leigh's truck.

Leigh was still thinking about the Ocelot, something didn't seem right about his latest nitpicking, Leigh had also seen his eyes. They had a hungry look about them, and that was bothering Leigh. When they arrived however back to the safe house he shook the thought from his head. He had more important things to worry about. Like finding a fitting Tuxedo for an up and coming wedding.

To Leigh's surprise, Grace was there as well. He had told her where to find him incase something came up where she needed him. The others advised against it, but he wasn't worried. He could see nothing wrong with Grace, and his instinct, had not been wrong before.

During the month and a half they had known each other, they had come to trust one another. A trust Leigh hadn't felt with someone for a long time. "Hey there." Grace said smiling. Carmelita and Sly went into the kitchen to leave the two alone for a minute. Both of them snickering "So I hope you haven't been getting into any trouble." Grace said sitting down along with Garret on the sofa. "You know me." Leigh said and the Otter laughed. "Yes. I _do_ know you." Leigh explained what had happened. With his brother, and with the run in with the Irish. "I'm sure your aware of this but if he doesn't stop, you might no be there the next time." She said and Leigh slumped back. "I know. I just don't know what I can do for him anymore. He looks up to me not just as a brother but as a father figure." He said his hand over his eyes. "Its frustrating."

Grace nodded. "I know." She got up and then said, "Come on, I'm helping Carmelita with a Spanish cuisine." Leigh chuckled. "I have come to like her cooking. Well that's one thing Sly can look forward to."

Later that night, most of everyone went to sleep or out investigating more, leaving Leigh, Sly, Carmelita, and Grace alone. "So exactly where will this wedding be held?" Grace asked. Leigh had invited her to come to both the wedding and the reception. "At Notre dame. Three weeks from now." Sly said, leaning in next to his fiancée. "Well I'm happy for you. Both of you." Grace said, but Carmelita chuckled. "I'm sure he would have married me. Because if he didn't propose I would have."

Grace then turned to Leigh, who had been quiet the whole time. "I'm surprised that Someone hasn't got their eye on you." she said and Leigh shrugged. "Many have. If it's down a gun barrel." he said. Carmelita laughed lightly. "That's Leigh for ya. Married to the job, he is." She said and took a drink of tea. Leigh actually smiled, something that surprised Sly and Carmelita, considering he had hardly anything to smile about. Then he said something that really caught them off guard. "I was. I was married once." He looked up to see the shock and awe of their faces. "You two didn't know that, huh?" he said and nodded. "Beautiful Welsh girl. Sarah was her name. We were young, stupid, loved each other." he then grinned. "Even enough to have a daughter." His grin faded and he said, "A few months after she was born, me and Sarah had an argument, which I stormed out of the house. Just to cool off then discuss it again." He scoffed. "I don't even remember what the argument was about. Anyway when I got back a few hours later…" he said, and everyone knew that it was physically, emotionally, and mentally hurting him. "A thief had broken in shortly after I had left. We didn't have much money, so he took his frustration out on my family." He didn't need to say how. "After that home didn't seem like the right place. War was getting started in the Middle East so I enlisted in the army and here I am now."

He then faced Sly and Carmelita. "I'm 35 years old. I'm practically an old man. You two have your whole lives a head of you, so don't waste it." he said standing up. "When this case ends, and we survive Travis, I'll turn in my shield and then spend the rest of my life in peace." He then went into the living room and quickly fell asleep in the sofa, leaving the others stunned at this sudden revelation. "I've known that man the entire time I've been at Interpol." Carmelita said in exasperation. "Never knew he was married."

_Okay! Finally. I had to really think this chapter through and through. Again I'm sorry it took so long for an update. I've been branching out. I've got my Fallout story and a Ace Combat story coming up. So I'm gonna be busy. Oh and I was also getting set for a Community College next year. On History and Writing if anyone was curious. Okay children, until next time. And next time it will be the wedding. (Spoiler)_


	12. Chapter 12

_Okay its time for the anticipated wedding. Of course in this story it might not be all wine and roses. I'm not saying anything. You'll just have to find out yourself. What I can tell you is that it will involve Sly._

_Read on._

Chapter 12

The day that many people had been waiting for, had finally arrived. The joining of Sylvester James Cooper, and Carmelita Montoya Fox. Neither had never been happier on any other day, nor had they been more nervous. Carmelita's hands were beginning to sweat, which called for Penelope to hand her a towel every five minutes. Sly wasn't faring any better, since his knees were getting weak, Leigh and Murray had to catch him three times.

"I still can't believe this is happening." He said as the wolf and hippo hoisted him up. "Believe it lad. Just take it easy." Leigh said, straightening the bow tie around the raccoon's neck. "Take deep breaths." As Sly began to do so, Leigh's cell phone began ringing. "Garret." he said and heard chief Barkely's voice. "Yeah chief?" As he listened, he frowned. "I took the day off." he said sounding both confused and angry. Finally he sighed and said, "Fine I'll be right there." then hung up the phone. "What's going on?" Murray asked scratching the top of his head. "Barkely wants to meet me at the office, something concerning something on the Renegades." Sly was surprised. "Today?" Leigh nodded. "Yeah today."

Leigh chuckled. "Don't worry. I should be back in half an hour." he then turned to Murray. "You think you could take him?" he asked, and to his surprise, the hippo shook his head. "My suit just came in. I got to go and get it." he said, sounding embarrassed. "Also I have to take all the food over to Notre Dame. So no room." Sly didn't seemed too bothered by this. "Hey don't worry big guy." he said, grinning and patting his friend on the shoulder. "I'll take a cab." Leigh didn't sound sure of this idea. "You sure?" he asked, and Sly nodded. "Yes, Lieutenant. I'll be fine." he joked. "Now will you go, and let me get married?"

After a moment, Leigh smirked. "Alright." he said and nodded. "Alright, I let you go, so Fox won't kill me." He said grabbing a peaked cap and walked out of the room. "Well, that's also my queue to leave." Sly said and followed Leigh out of the building.

Leigh had just started pulling away, when Sly exited the building. He saluted the raccoon and the truck left the parking lot and vanished down the street. Sly glanced down both sides of the street and noticed a taxi coming his way. He waved his hand, hailing it and it pulled up next to him. He opened the door and got inside.

The cabbie had a black ball cap on and a Olive drab combat jacket on. "Notre dame, if you please." The driver gave a thumbs up and the vehicle rolled forward. Sly began relaxing and straightened his lapels.

Then he noticed something odd; the cab was going the wrong way. "Hey uh," Sly began, as the taxi pulled into an ally way. "Hey! Where are you going?" Sly said sounding worried, confused, and angry. Then the vehicle skidded to a stop. "Ok. Not only did you lose your tip, but I'm getting out." Sly said and reached for the handle. Both locks on the rear doors then slammed down.

"Afraid you can't do that." The driver said, this startled Sly. That voice was familiar. The driver then slid the glass on the barrier over, and said, "My new employer wouldn't like it." He turned around and had a weapon in his hand. Sly recognized the driver immediately. "Walk--" Before he could finish the name, The Ocelot fired the weapon and before he knew it, a large dart was jutting out of his stomach. His groaned from the hit and his eyes widened at the foreign object. "Don't worry. That will only knock ya out." Walker said, and Sly began feeling the effects taking over his body.

"Sweet dreams, thief." Walker said, and sly collapsed into the seat. He tried to keep his eyes open, his thoughts centered on Carmelita. Finally he succumbed to the drug's effects and passed out. The cab then pulled away and vanished into the city.

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Leigh walked into the office, many people looking confused. Garret then entered Barkely's office, who was reading a newspaper. "Hey chief" Leigh said, surprising the chief. "Garret? What are you doing here?" The dog said. "Didn't you just call me about information?" Leigh asked, sounding confused. "What information? What call?" Barkely asked, sounding frustrated. "You… didn't call me?" Leigh said, the truth beginning to materialize in his head. "Garret, the only call I've made at all today, was to my wife this morning."

Just then Leigh's cell phone began to ring. He checked the identity, it was Sly. "Hey lad. Something wrong?" He asked, and go his answer. "How you doing, half-breed?" Leigh was shocked at the voice he heard. "Walker." Barkely then began paying attention to the conversation. "Ding! You've answered question one correctly!" Walker said and Leigh balled his fist. "What are you doing on Sly's phone? I certainly know he wouldn't willingly give it to you." he said and began pacing. "Well, it's sad to say that you buddy Cooper, he probably might not get hitched today or ever,"

Leigh knew what he was about to say, "Unless I find him is that it?" he said, and Walker laughed. "Congratulations, you've won the $64,000 question." he said, then continued only with a different tone. A deadly serious tone. "That's right, I have him in a situation where he _will_ die, unless you find him in…" he paused, Leigh guessed he was looking at the time. "In three hours." Leigh quickly looked at the clock in Barkely's room. It was 9 Am sharp. "Quite novel like, don't you think? Him dying at high noon." Walker said over the phone. Leigh gritted his teeth, his eyes had fire in them. "You just signed your death warrant." he said, but Walker merely chuckled. "I wanted to have killed him anyway, only I'm being paid by your brother." he said, this only angered Leigh more.

"These are the rules, Garret; you find him and defuse the situation before the deadline, Sly goes free and gets hitched. Do it with help at Interpol, and I'll kill him myself." The Ocelot sneered on the other end. Garret began pacing back and forth. "By the time I'm done with you," Leigh said, shaking with anger. "You beg me to kill you, Walker." The Ocelot didn't even seemed fazed by this. "Those are the rules, and to be a good sport, I'll even give you a hint." Walker said and chuckled. "He is somewhere in the Northwest area of Paris, the other half is the place where he belongs." Leigh could take it anymore. "Walker." he started, but the line disconnected. Leigh slammed the phone shut, "Shit."

"What's going on?" Barkely asked as the wolf began marching out the door. Leigh stopped and faced him. "Walker's gone over. He's got Sly." he said and ran out of the office. "Oh, god." Barkely muttered.

Leigh burst out of Interpol, while he was calling Pengelly. "Rog, it's Garret. We've got a problem." He said running down the steps. "Walker's kidnapped Sly. You've got to tell Carmelita that he's going to be late." Leigh then jumped into his truck. "After you let her know that, discreetly tell the others. I want them scouring the city for Sly and Walker." He hung up, not giving Roger to say anything. Then turned the engine over and sped off.

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Sly groaned and shifted, or tried to. He still felt groggy and delirious. He tried to get his bearings but couldn't see anything. It was pitch black, and deathly quiet. He knew that he was lying on something, wood maybe. He also knew he had something in his hands, in his right was a flashlight, definitely. The other he wasn't sure about. Hen he felt it, something was binding his hands together. He switched on the flashlight and gasped in terror.

He was surrounded by wood planks, in front, the sides, behind him, and above and below him. He began panting heavily and shallowly. He then saw his hands bound in hand-cuffs. The other thing he saw both confused and terrified him more. It looked like a circular piece of nylon, with a medium electronic black box right next to it. "Oh boy." he said trying to calm himself down.

He was so terrorized that he now finally noticed he was holding a tape recorder in his hand. He shrugged and pressed play. "Hey Cooper." Walker's voice came from the box. "Your finally awake. By now you've realized that your in a bit of situation here, huh?" Sly listened as the recorder continued. "If you want to know what that odd little item is right above your face, it is a special piece of primer cord." Sly looked back at the explosive that was only inches away from his head. "Don't worry, it'll act like a Claymore mine and explode away from you. Heh, but it doesn't mean that you'll live when it goes off." the Ocelot's voice continued to taunt him. "Travis Garret designed it specifically for this moment. At noon that bomb will go off, and bury you under a ton of dirt." Sly then saw his watch, it was 10:08. One hour and fifty two minutes. "Oh, and that dirt is so heavy, you won't be able to burrow you way out even if your hands weren't bound." Walker said laughing.

"So have a nice life," The Ocelot said and Sly tossed the recorder aside. "What's left of it anyway." And Walker cackled away. In frustration and terror Sly began banging the makeshift coffin with his body and screaming at the top of his lungs. Though no one could hear him. The tape ended.

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Leigh skidded the truck to a stop outside of Notre Dame. He jumped out and made his way inside. When inside he made his way past many people he knew, all of whom were muttering to themselves as to why the wedding hadn't started yet. He ignored these ramblings and entered the back room, finding Penelope, Mallary, another bride's maid, and Carmelita inside. The dresses the Bride's maids and Maid of Honor, were in Navy blue silk dresses. Carmelita was already in the gown while the attendants helped finish the outfit. She saw Leigh and nearly fell off the stand. "Leigh, where is my fiancée?" She said with a worried tone. "It's not like him to be late, for anything." Garret held up his hands trying to calm her. "He's just caught up in traffic on the other side of Paris, he'll be here." he said, lying of course. The last thing he wanted was for Carmelita to worry about Sly on her wedding. He hated himself for that. "Leigh, just get him here before my mother shows up."

"Don't worry, he'll be here." Garret said, and motioned Mallary over to the hallway. When they were out of earshot, Davis glared at Leigh. "I don't like the idea of you lying to her." she said in a whisper. "You think _I _do?" Leigh said looking back towards the room. "Look that doesn't matter right now. What _does_ is we've got to find Sly." he said, and Mallary agreed with him. "Now, you and me are gonna look in the northwestern part of the city, Pengelly, and Eaglehorn will look northeast, Luigi and Soto will look South."

She nodded and then everyone hurried out of the Cathedral. Leigh and Mallary took off in his truck, Pengelly and Eaglehorn left in a Tan Subaru, and Luigi with Soto in a white Lincoln. Leigh began driving recklessly, narrowly missing other cars and running red lights. "Leigh, do you mind slowing down a little?" Mallary asked holding tight to the roof handle.

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Sly finally stopped thrashing about in his wooden prison from sheer exhaustion. He was now panting even harder after a small light on the explosive device came on. That light meant that the thing was now armed. He looked at his watch, which now read 11:10. "Leigh, it would help if you hurried." he said to himself. His only hope now, was Leigh Garret. If he could find him that is.

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Leigh kept trying to figure out what Walker meant on where Sly belonged. That had him stumped. "Where? Where?" he kept asking himself that. "Where did he always want Sly?" He asked Mallary, who simply shrugged. "Well, he's never liked Sly, obviously. He's always had it in for him." Davis said, but this still didn't help. "Damn. Where is he?" he said, banging his hands on the steering wheel.

Mallary scoffed. "Another fool coming up with riddles on graveyard shift." she said, rubbing her head. Leigh then started thinking. Then it hit him. Without warning Leigh slammed on the breaks. "What? What are you doing?" Mallary asked after the truck jolted to a stop. "What did you say?" Leigh asked and faced her. "I asked what were you doing?" she answered, but Garret shook his head. "No, before that." he said, piecing it all in his mind. "I said that Walker was another fool making up riddles." Mallary said, slowly understanding what Leigh meant. They then figured it out. "The Graveyard." They both said and Leigh gunned the engine.

It took nearly forty five minutes just to get to the cemetery because of traffic problems. When they finally got there, they ran into another problem; there were over 1,500 graves. Both of them jumped out of the truck, and ran into a elderly Sheep dog. "Oi!" Leigh shouted to get his attention. When they reached him, Garret immediately showed him his badge. "Anybody make a fresh grave in the last few hours?" Mallary asked, as Leigh looked around. "Uh yes, three freshly dug sites today." the caretaker said and pulled out a list.

Leigh was still looking around the cemetery, when he saw it. A grave with a small dirt pile in front of it, and a very chilling message on the stone that made the hairs on the back of Leigh's neck stand up. "Sly Cooper. In Hell for his crimes." Leigh then bolted to the grave. "SLY!" he shouted and pushed every ounce of energy to his legs. Mallary and the caretaker were right behind him.

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Sly knew what was about to happen in about ten seconds. His heart began pounding against his chest, his body shaking. The image of Carmelita then swam into his mind, _How beautiful she must be know. _He then found tears forming in his eyes. He came so close to truly having her, to love her for the rest of their lives. However, he now believed that she would be widowed at the alter. _Walker should have killed both of us. At least she and I would've been together._ He then turned his head, bound hands covered his face, and closed his eyes.

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Leigh was only twenty feet from the grave, and was closing the distance. Then fifteen. He would make it. He knew he would. He wouldn't get there however. Because the explosive in the coffin detonated and threw a pillar of dirt upwards, and Leigh off his feet. When he regained his composure, Leigh saw the pile had slid downwards, right on top of Sly.

_I hate leaving ending chapters like this. I figured it would add drama and suspense. Will Sly make it, or will his belief become reality? Find out next time. (Damn it. I sounded like a Tv series narrator.)_


	13. Chapter 13

_**Sorry it took me a bit. I'm trying to work on a main story I've got in the works. No idea when it'll be finished but hopefully before I retire right?**_

_**A quick recap: Sly was just buried in a graveyard and Leigh and Mallary are rushing to save him. Now I promise you that this chapter will be calm. Mostly.**_

_**I'm not going into any details however on the chater, so you'll have to find out yourselves.**_

_**Time to read.**_

**Chapter 13**

**His eyes opened up to reveal bright blue skies. He could actually breath, see clearly, and feel the cool air across his face. As he sat up he was sitting in a green meadow, green fields as far as the eye could see in every direction. The sun was beginning to set.**

**Then he heard a voice calling out his name. "Sly! Sly!" As he turned he saw a silhouette maybe a hundred yards away on top of a small knoll. "Come on kiddo! It's getting late." The voice called out again. Sly looked down at himself and saw the body of a child, that was his. "Was I just dreaming?" he asked himself. He then got to his feet and ran to the knoll.**

**When he reached the top, there just behind it was a small cottage. Nothing special, just a two floor home, with everything it would need; two bedrooms, a kitchen, a closet, and a living room. As Sly walked through the door, he noticed the figure in front of the sink, washing dishes. The man was very aware of Sly behind him, "Son, you need to work on being more quiet," he said without facing him, "Especially if you want to be a master thief." Sly thought he never made a sound. "Sorry, dad. I'm still kind of shaky." Sly said, and his father laughed. "Let me guess; you fell asleep and didn't like what you saw, huh?" His father asked. Sly nodded. "Yes, sir."**

**His father nodded and kept washing dishes. "Well, if you don't want to talk about it, fine." He said and Sly took off his small boots. "Now wash up, dinner will ready soon." Cooper said, and Sly ran up the stairs. "No running." he heard his father say.**

**That night, after eating Sly came down the stairs, as quietly as he could. It was starting to thunder out, something that had scarred Sly for a long time. He then saw his father sitting in a chair, reading his birth rite. The **_**Thievous Raccoonus**_**. The book full of writings by master thieves since ancient Egypt. His family's legacy. Sly then crept up to the back of the chair and got right next to it. Then he leapt. Unfortunately Cooper was expecting this and caught his son in mid-air, and hung him upside down by the leg. "I told you, squirt." he began and gently laid the small raccoon on his lap. "You have to be quieter." As Sly straightened up, his father then said, "But your getting better. I didn't hear you till you jumped."**

**The two then began reading the book of thieves together for a while. Sly then turned to his father, "What do you plan on putting in?" His father merely grinned, the same grin all the Coopers had. "When your older I'll tell you and teach you it." Sly felt a deep respect in his father's decision. Cooper was the only parent Sly had known, in fact the only family he has known. Sly didn't have any brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, or cousins. It was just him and his dad.**

**Just then somebody started pounding on the door, and a voice came from the thunder. "We know your in there, Cooper!" the voice sounded, mechanical and extremely menacing. Cooper nearly threw his son of his lap and quickly grabbed the Cooper cane. "Sly listen to me." he said looking his son in the eyes. Fear was in his own, but not for himself, for his only child. "You hide with this, and no matter what happens to me, you stay quiet." Sly didn't answer him. "You hear me?!" Cooper shouted, shaking his son. "Yes, sir." Sly said and immediately ran to a closet.**

**No sooner had he done that, and closed the door to a crack, the front door shattered to pieces. Sly saw out of the crack, five individuals. A frog with a worn top hat, a large bulldog held up by two very muscular arms, a alligator with small bones for necklaces and a head wrap, and a tall panda with fireworks on his back. The fifth person was completely cloaked in shadow, only two burning red eyes were visible. **

"**Hello, Cooper." The fifth individual said, staying just outside the door as the others made their way inside. "Clockwerk, how did you find me?" Cooper asked as he slowly shifted over to the fireplace. It was the alligator that answer, with a wry giggle. "It was by my voodoo, that we found you." It was a lady, with a very southern American accent. "Ah, Miss Ruby. My least favorite priestess." Cooper said as the four began to form a half circle in front of him. "Took us a good time to find you, small fry." the bulldog said, sounding rather stupid. "Mugshot. How's learning the ABC's working for you?"**

**Sly saw his father step next to the fireplace, and his hand creeping towards the cast-iron poker. "Brave till the end. Bravo old boy!" The frog said as he hopped on top of the chair, he sounded English. "Raleigh, still hoping a princess will cure your blight of ugliness?" Cooper said as he slowly gripped the poker. "There is no place left to run, master thief. Face your destiny." The panda said as his fists began to ball up. Flames erupted from the clenched hands.**

"**My destiny is not in your hands." Cooper said, this was apparently amusing to the fifth intruder. He laughed a cold and unearthly voice. "Coopers. Brave and stubborn, even in the face of death." he said as a bolt of lightning erupted behind him, shrouding him further. "Well, not this time. It ends."**

**Then the words came that haunted Sly for a long time. "Kill him." At that moment Raleigh opened his mouth and the his long tongue shot out like a pink projectile. Cooper dodged easily and quickly brought the poker up like a sword. That's when Mugshot flung himself forward. Cooper then leapt in the air with astonishing speed and grace, right over the bulldog. At the same time he slammed the iron down on top of Mugshot's head. The dog held up his hands to the top of his head. Doing this dropped him to his weak legs, that buckled under his weight. Cooper swung around, just as soon as Miss Ruby cast a spell, that hurled into his direction. He leaned back farther then any man normally would, and the spell narrowly missed him. He then brought the poker horizontally over his head and stopped a hammer fist by the Panda King.**

**The heat from his fist however melted the poker like butter. Cooper flung it aside and another spell was thrown in his direction. He leapt over it, the spell flying through his legs and struck the Panda king in the belly. It threw him off his feet and against the wall behind him. Raleigh then spat his tongue out again, and in quick thinking, Cooper dodged it again, but this time grabbed it as it passed. Raleigh was stunned at this move and started gagging. Cooper using every ounce of strength gripped the tongue with both hands and used the frog like a ball and chain. Smashing him into Miss Ruby. The alligator fell backwards and began flailing her arms and legs, unable to get off her back.**

**Cooper turned and then lurched forward. Sly nearly screamed as he saw this. Jutting out of his father's chest, were three talons. As crimson began sliding down his stomach, Cooper groaned as he saw the metallic blades protruding from his body. The fifth person had attacked him from behind with terrifying speed. "I told you, Cooper." Clockwerk said. He then lifted Cooper off the ground, with Sly's father gripping the talons in pain. "It ends."**

**The shadowed owl then hurled Cooper across the room like a rag doll. His body then slammed against the wall, right next to the closet Sly was in. Cooper landed on his chest, facing his son.**

**Sly stared into his father's eyes. Cooper saw his son and, grinned. Cooper's eyes then rolled up into the back of his head and he was gone. Sly's eyes began tearing up. Mugshot picked himself up and grabbed the back of Cooper's head. He raised it up and turned it. "He's dead." The bulldog said and dropped the raccoon's head.**

**Clockwerk, still covered in darkness, glared at the four. "The four greatest criminals, bested by one man." he said scornfully. The others didn't say anything, for they were too afraid to. The dark owl then turned to the **_**Thievous Raccoonus**_**, lying on the floor. "Tear it up. Each of you take a fifth of the book." he said, Sly staying quiet in the closet. "Then I **_**never**_** want to see any of you again." **

**As the others nodded and started ripping pages out of the book of thieves, Clockwerk stood right in front the closet where Sly was still hidden. When the others had finished and left, the owl then torn the remaining pages out of the book, with one powerful pull which also sent the ruined cover sliding across the floor.**

**Right as soon as the mysterious criminal exited the door, he stopped. Then he turned looking back at dead raccoon. No, at Sly. He was certain the owl was looking right at him. Clockwerk chuckled and then turned and flew off with the mighty wings.**

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**Leigh was digging through the dirt with his bare hands. He was scooping the dirt out as fast as he could. Mallary had ran off with the caretaker to get some spades. The wolf was tearing his hands up from the vigorous shoveling. Mallary finally returned with the caretaker and the two began slicing through the ground.**

"**Sly!" Leigh shouted, desperately trying to reach him. He then looked at the others, still digging. "God damn it! Dig faster!" he yelled, and turned his attention back to the ground. His fingers now coloring the ground red. As the three pull pounds of the dirt off, Leigh's hand hit something.**

"**Right here!" he shouted as he snatched the shovel from the sheepdog. "Come on Sly! Say something!" Mallary shouted as the two dug hard. As more of the ground was cleared to reveal, wood boards. Mallary started working downwards, Leigh dropped the shovel and began brushing dirt away from the top. As he cleared it away, his hand slammed against a splintered edge, causing even more bleeding. He kept digging despite the pain. After clearing the top edge of the coffin, and Mallary and the caretaker cleared the bottom, all three ripped the two halves of the lid off.**

**Leigh then plunged his hand into the fresh pile covering the whole interior. He moved his arm around, when hit felt it. Handcuffs. Leigh gripped the chain and pulled with his entire strength. Sly's hands, then his arms, and then his head appeared. He began gasping for air coughing and spitting out clouds of dirt.**

**Garret then rested him in his lab, both panting hard. Between the gasps, Sly was able to say, "Did I ever tell you," he then looked up at the wolf. "That I love you. Like a brother of course." he started chuckling slowly. "Aye." Leigh said nodding, patting Sly on the chest.**

**He then pulled Sly up and both got to their feet. "Now, we got wedding you **_**need**_** to be." the Englishman said and they and Mallary slowly walked back to the truck. Every one covered, head to foot, in dirt, and in Sly and Leigh's case, blood.**

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**Carmelita stood there, on the alter next to the priest. She was both nervous and angry. Nervous for Sly and Leigh. Angry at them for being late. She was also nearly about to faint, at how tight the corset in the gown was. She turned to Bentley as he adjusted his tie. "Where are they?" Carmelita whispered to him. He just shrugged.**

**At that moment the doors of the Cathedral opened widely. The one pushing the doors was a raccoon in a tuxedo absolutely covered in dirt, and the white shirt stained with blood. Carmelita nearly screamed as she saw who it was. "Sly." she whispered as Cooper made his way down the aisle, followed by Leigh and Mallary. "It's alright folks, I'm sorry I'm late." Sly said holding up his hand as people began talking to each other. "I just got buried in work. This time literally." he said laughing. An Interpol officer stood and said, "Hey Sly your bleedin'!" he said, and Carmelita was about to run off the alter. "Oh, it's not my blood. Don't worry." Sly said, as he kept his stride and glanced at his shirt. "That's because it's mine." Leigh said, showing his bloody hands as he took his seat next to Grace.**

**Sly then walked up the alter to the right of Carmelita. "Busy day, pal?" Bentley asked, examining Sly's appearance. "Yeah. Neck deep." Sly said laughing. The raccoon then turned to the priest. "Okay, padre. Proceed." he said, and the priest nodded. "Very well, **_**monsieur.**_**" The father said and opened the bible he held in his hands. **

**He sharply cleared his throat and said, "Dearly Beloved. We are gathered here on this day, to join these two in sacred and holy matrimony." Sly stiffened and felt his knees getting weaker, but he held firm. "If there is one among us that does not wish these two be wed, speak now or--" Before the padre continued, Leigh finished for him. "Or answer to me!" he said, and people laughed, Sly and Carmelita grinned and looked back at their unorthodox friend. Garret nodded and motioned for the priest to continued. "As I was saying, speak now, or forever hold your peace." The cathedral became silent.**

**After a moment the priest then turned to the dirt covered raccoon. "Sylvester, do you take this woman to be your wife? And will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her in sickness and health, forsaking each other as long as you both shall live?" Sly stood there for only a moment, and said, "I do." The padre nodded and then turned to the bride. "Carmelita Montoya, do you take this man to be your husband? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him in sickness and health, forsaking each other as long as you both shall live?" Carmelita answer him immediately. "Yes."**

**The priest then motioned gently to Bentley. The turtle nodded and pulled the silver ring out of his pocket and handed it to his childhood friend. The silence was nerve breaking, and you-could-hear-a-pin-drop type. **

**This was shattered by a loud wailing. Everyone turned to the source, and Sly did his hardest to not laugh. Murray, who was a the groomsmen just let loose, crying with joy. "I'm sorry!" he said between sobs, as people chuckled understandingly. "I'm just so happy!" he shouted and buried his face into his hands.**

**The father then faced the cathedral and said, "Then by the power and the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit," he crossed him self and repeated the phrase in Latin, as many others, including Leigh and Mallary, crossed themselves. "I now name you, husband and wife." he said smiling. "It is my privilege to present Mr. and Mrs. Sylvester Cooper." He then turned back to Sly. "You may now--" again interrupted by the raccoon this time. "Kiss the bride. That's the part I've been waiting for."**

**Sly then pulled the veil over her head, looking her straight in the eyes. Then kissed her with extreme passion. Everyone immediately started applauding, the loudest coming from Leigh. The two then parted and smiled.**

**Later at the reception, every one had their own way of celebrating. Except Leigh of course. Sly and Carmelita sat together at a table and just talked. Bentley and Penelope were talking on scientific terms. Leigh was eyeing the large bundle of booze at the buffet table. Grace eyeing him. **

**To take his mind off of wanting alcohol, Leigh took hold of a full bottle of Jack Daniels and walked over to Sly. "Hey lad. Since you are now officially have a ball and chain--" He said, and cleared his throat when the vixen slapped him on the shoulder. "I mean a wife, I think you should learn how to drink." He then held up the bottle of liquor next to the raccoon. "Leigh…" Sly started, but Garret stopped him. "Believe me, mate. You'll need to learn this." He then set the bottle on the table.**

**A moment passed with all three starring at the auburn liquid. To everyone's surprise, including his, Sly picked up the bottle, placed it between his lips, and leaned his head back. A whole mouthful of the drink slid into his mouth, and he set the Jack Daniels down. He literally swallowed the whole thing in one gulp. He coughed raggedly and placed his hand on his throat. Leigh chuckled, "Not bad for a beginner." He said slapping Sly on the back. "Does it normally burn like that?" He asked, his eyes watering. "Keep it up and you get past it." Leigh said, and he received a scornful look from Carmelita. "No he won't." Garret held up his arms in defense. "I'm only kidding. Besides your not the drinking type, lad."**

**Leigh quickly moved away from the table and made his way back to another, Grace's table. He sat down next to her. She was wearing a blue silk dress, one without a back. "I can't help but say, you look beautiful like this." He said, and she merely laughed lightly. "Well thank you for that, Mr. Garret." she said wryly.**

**Garret grinned. "You know, I actually see myself with you." he said, and she looked at him with a funny look. "Not like that." he said holding up his hands. "What I mean is," he started, trying to figure out what he actually heard himself saying. "I see myself, dancing with you." He said looking down at the table. "You in this dress, me in a tuxedo, and us just dancing." He looked back up and saw her face, slightly dumbfounded.**

**He shook his head and said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything." He then was about to stand. Then he felt her hand, slide gently onto his. "What kind of dance?" Grace said to the blind sided Leigh Garret. "Uh,…" He gazed into her green eyes. A soft calm came over the flustered wolf, and he sat back down. "What kind of dance, Leigh?" she asked him again. He smiled and said, "A slow dance."**

**Another few hours passed and it was after dark. Many of the guests started leaving and wishing the new couple luck and happiness. Leigh was one of the departing. "You sure you want to leave?" Carmelita asked as Garret yawned. "Yeah, I'm getting tired. Besides I have to take the watch of the safe house." He answered her and patted Sly on the shoulder. "Be good you two." He said with a mischievous grin, slipped his peaked cap on and left.**

**Sly sighed as the room was nearly empty, save a few slow dancers, some passed out drunks, and Bentley, Penelope, Murray, and Pengelly. "Well, in a hundred years, I never thought I would get married." Sly said as he slid down the chair. He then faced his new wife. "Before I met you of course." This surprise the vixen. "You actually saw us getting married? Even when I was chasing you all those years?" Carmelita asked, with Sly nodding. "Of course. I mean the first time I saw you…" He said, as he held her hand. "I don't know, it was like, I guess like a premonition." Carmelita stared at Sly, she knew he had always been a Casanova to her, but she never thought he saw them married.**

"**I guess, it's not only because I fell in love with you," He started, but stopped. His face cringing. "What?" She asked him, feeling worried. Sly said slowly, hating every moment of it. "You know how much Clockwerk hated my family, right?" She nodded, not liking where this was going. "Did I also mentioned, the night when he killed my father, he knew I was there?" Carmelita stared at him, both in shock and disbelief. "He actually looked me in the eyes." Sly said, starting to shake, obviously very disturbed. " 'Why didn't he kill me?' 'Why am I not lying next to my entire family?' I asked myself that question for years after that."**

**After a moment he started calming down and stopped shaking. "The day you smashed his hate chip, and his pieces dissolved into dust," He said and looked her in the eyes. "I never felt a greater breath of relief." Soon his eyes were getting red, and big, fat tears started rolling down his face. Carmelita then place her hand on his head and rested it on her chest. She now understood Sly a little more clearly now. Because she had not only earned **_**his**_** gratitude that day, but the gratitude of the entire Cooper family. Then she heard him whispered these two words; "Thank you."**

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**As Leigh stepped through the door, he rubbed his eyes and hung his hat up. After closing the door, he stretched his arms and slouched over to the couch. Then without even taking the tuxedo jacket off, fell on to the sofa. His eyes began getting heavier, until they closed completely.**

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_**Garret ran hard. He wasn't going to leave his men to face the insurgents alone. He had already sent David back to wheel around to the right. After running maybe thirty yards he spotted the three wounded men and slid next to them. "Hey Leigh." A Sergeant said holding on to a SIG Sauer P228 in his left hand, since his right was maimed badly. "Hello Colin." Leigh said glancing over the ditch. "Why are milling about here, when the others need you, sir." Another injured soldier asked, as his leg was bleeding below the kneecap. "I sent David to do that. He could use the experience." Garret said, again looking over the slope. A thick smoke was settling over the field, making it nearly impossible to find anything clearly. "Can't see a bloody thing." Leigh said as he pulled the bolt back and examined how many bullets were left. "Six" he muttered.**_

_**Just then more gunfire broke out and orange flashes started appearing in the smoke. "David must be on the move." Leigh said as shadows started appearing in the fog. Leigh started getting jumpy as more bullets started striking the top of the mound from every direction. Leigh dropped his head as another bullet hit just next to him "Ah bloody--" he shouted. After a few moments the gunfire began to lighten. The smoke on the other hand was getting thicker.**_

_**That's when Leigh saw it. A shadow in the middle of the smoke, facing left. He raised the rifle in his hands and stared down the scope. "Just hold still." Garret whispered as he kept the crosshairs on the shadow. He slowly squeezed the trigger and the rifle cracked loudly.**_

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**Leigh's eyes snapped open, and he jolted violently. He yelled as fell off the sofa and landed flat on his face. He let out a long and loud groan as he turned his face to get it off his nose. He picked himself up and leaned against the couch. He then found himself, shaking. Leigh lowered his head in shame. "Why can't I let it go?"**

_**That ends Chapter 13! I bet your all wondering what this nightmare in Afghanistan is huh? Well I'm getting to that point. RELAX!! And as for the first half of the story, what little Sly Cooper FanFics I read, none of them gave great detail on what had happened, the night the Fiendish Five came and killed Sly's father. So I wrote down what I thought had happened.**_

_**You know the drill; Review what you thought and let me know. Till next time.**_


	14. Chapter 14

_Alright, chapter 14. Now this chapter will be kinda different. It'll still be following the main story, just happens to be another problem the team will have to deal with. What it is, you'll have to find out._

_As for the last chapter, don't yell at me because I haven't been around or seen that many weddings lately, so for those who gave constructive criticism, just to reply to it._

_Time to read._

Chapter 14

The sun was starting to set to the east of the park. A nice sunset. This is what they young white cat thought as she held her groceries in hand. She was taking a shortcut through the park to try to save some time on her way back home.

As she approached an intersection she noticed six men standing in the center. She kept her head down as she approached them. All of them were bulldogs, and all of them were staring at her. The cat quickened her pace. She nearly got pasted them, until one moved right in front of her. "Hello, missy." The blocking dog with a black patch over his left eye said with an English accent. The cat reached into her pocket for a can of mace, only to have another grab her arm. "You would not be thinking about spraying an Inspector now, would you?" He sneered and showed her something that made her dread; a police officer's badge. The intelligence bureau of Interpol to be exact.

She had all but given up hope, until another man's voice came. "Oi!" Everyone at the intersection turned to the direction of the voice and saw four people walking calmly towards them. "If you know what's good for you arsehole, turn around." One of the dogs shouted. Then they saw who it was. In front was Leigh Garret. To his right, Sly Cooper, to the left was Carmelita Fox Cooper, and behind and towering all of them, Murray Hippo.

"You blokes must be from intelligence," Leigh said, his hands in his pockets. The group then stopped fight feet short of the Bulldogs. "Because that's where all the idiot cops go." Though the Intel cops knew who Leigh was, they only looked at him with anger. Leigh's attention then turned to the white cat in the middle. "Run on home now." He said as she pushed her way past the dogs. "_Merci._" She said and ran down the sidewalk before disappearing in the distance.

When she was out of sight the four turned their attention back to the bulldogs, who now where shaking with anger. It was uncommon knowledge that there were two Interpols, one was Headquartered in Nice, Southern France. This was the intelligence division, the other was for the inspectors and constables who made the arrests. It was even more unknown that the two despised each other to the point where fights often broke out.

"You know something?" Sly said, grinning his usual grin, knowing what was about to happen. "It's jerks like you guys that make this job fun." Carmelita's comment was less cordial then her husband's. "You scumbags make me ashamed to be a cop." She said glaring. Murray didn't say anything, he was bright enough to know they intended harm on the lady. He cracked his massive knuckles. "Well mates," Leigh said referring to his friends. "What you say we show em what _real_cops do in their free time?"

The Bulldog with the black patch, didn't wait for Leigh. He brushed past his men and threw a punch, right a Garret's chest. The Wolf didn't try to stop the fist as it slammed into his upper abdomen. He didn't even flinch. Leigh then responded by balling up his left hand and smashed it into the Bulldog's chin. He fell backwards into his men. After shaking off the blow, he shouted, "GET EM!" At this all ten ran into each other and started attacking.

Sly immediately took a jab to the face, before tackling his attacker. Murray was taking on three of them at once. Two in headlocks in both arms, another trying to give him one. Carmelita gave a backspin kick to one of the bulldogs, before another punched her in the back of the head. Leigh was grappling with the apparent leader. The two rolled down a small drop-off, and after reaching the bottom, Leigh got on top and started hammer fisting his opponent in the face.

This brawl kept up for anther ten minutes before thirty-five Paris beat cops arrived and tried to separate the fighters. It took ten to get a hold of Murray, five for Garret, four on the Bulldog leader, and two for all the others. After the fight was over, all of them were arrested for disturbing the peace.

As night began to fall on the city, chief Barkley signed in as a visitor at the Police station. An officer lead him through the hallway back towards the holding cells. As soon as he got past the locked doors, the chief couldn't help but laugh when he saw his cops. Aside from all the cuts an bruises they received, Sly's left eye was swollen shut. Carmelita's forehead had a large bump. She covered it with an icepack, held on by hands which were soaked in dried blood, because she scratched very hard, and a line of it ran down from her mouth. Murray's neck was very red and he was making sure he had all his teeth. Leigh had took the worst of the punishment; he was lying on his back with a blood stained towel, a large gash was on his forehead, that was still bleeding, both of his eyes were black, and he had a fist sized bruise on his left side chin.

Leigh turned his head and saw his boss outside the cell, he smiled and greeted him. "Hey chief. How's the missus and kids?" he said pleasantly as if he met Barkley in the produce market. The dog chuckled, pulled out a cigar, lit it and after exhaling the smoke he said, "I assume they got as good as they gave." He looked at Carmelita who smiled widely, her teeth were completely red. "She actually big one of their ears off." Sly said he rested his head against the wall next to her. "Well, I only did part of the damage." She said as she held Sly's hand.

Barkley sighed and took another drag of his cigar. "Well I talked to the chief of police and a representative from Nice. You'll spend the night here and then you'll have to speak to this representative." he said, his tone dropping slightly. Leigh noticed this and spat out a wad of blood. "You make it sound like will get laid off." he said as he turned his head back up to the ceiling. "Because you might." Barkley said and all of them starred at him. "This guy is not to be taken lightly, Garret. Look just tell the truth, write it down on the reports and hope two cases of Scotch to the director helps."

Barkley turned to leave when he then said, "Just answer me one thing though, and this means all of you." As they waited, wondering what it could be, the chief grinned and asked, "How'd it feel to teach those maggots a lesson?" Garret grinned as he wrapped the former white towel around his head. "I think you know the answer to that boss." Carmelita said as she closed her eyes. The dog outside the cell nodded and walked away, "Good night you four."

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Leigh, Sly, and Carmelita were sitting outside Barkley's office. The doors were closed, but they could still see inside. It was Barkley and the representative from Nice, and the representative, a weasel, was almost tearing the chief's head off. "Judging by the way the chief looks," Sly said, his left eye wasn't swollen anymore, but still red and hurting. "That anger is gonna be thrown at us." Leigh was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed. He quickly swallowed a heart pill and said, "Why not? We beat the hell out of their best men." He kept his eyes closed. Carmelita scoffed, "Even if we tell them what happened with that woman?" Leigh simply nodded.

The representative then moved to the side, and Barkley motioned for them to enter. The three did so and Leigh closed the door. He then saw who the weasel was. He scoffed, grinned and said, "Patterson." The weasel nodded cordially. It was no secret that when Garret had first enlisted with Interpol he had beaten Patterson for the badge. So Leigh went on to be a cop, the weasel went to intelligence. "Good evening, _inspector_Garret." Barkley then said, "Look, Mr. Patterson, I doubt the discipline you recommended is necessary." Patterson looked at the chief and said, "Well chief, I could care less about your opinions and doubts."

He turned back to the group. "Well, since you three started a fist fight with six of our men, I recommend a month long suspension for the Coopers, and as for," He then stood in front of Leigh. "Garret, I recommend both your badge and one more item." He grinned, something told Leigh he wouldn't like this. He pulled out a small portfolio and took a piece of paper. "Your brother is in uh, Madrid, correct?" He said, and Leigh stiffen up. Barkley didn't hear this before and started to stand. "Well, since he has out standing fines for illegal gambling, I think he should be sent back to London to face prison time."

The others stood stunned. "Are you insane?" Carmelita said, Barkley got to his feet, "You do have the authority." Patterson turned and faced the angered chief. "Oh, I have all the authority. I spoke with the directors and they gave me authority to do what's necessary." Leigh had stood ridged on the spot, nearly blinded by anger. "That's a death sentence for his brother. And you know it." Sly said as Patterson kept smug. "Well, just to show you all I'm not completely heartless, I make you a deal; You take your partners' suspension and not hit one person the entire time."

The others looked at him with exasperation. "You _are_insane." Carmelita said, and then started muttering angrily in Spanish. "You got it out for Leigh or something?" Sly asked as Leigh kept quiet. "No, I just have no respect for washed up soldiers who drown themselves in booze." Patterson said as he sat down.

Just then everyone heard something they couldn't believe; Leigh Garret saying, "Deal." All turned to face him in awe. "Everyone is going insane." Carmelita said as she sat down. "You got a deal Patterson, I'll take the suspension and your deal." Leigh said facing the weasel. "Just leave my family and mates out of this." Patterson thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Fine Garret. One month, no hitting and I'll forget it all happened." He also turned to Sly and Carmelita. "This will apply to you two as well, if any of you hit a person, even once, James Garret is sent back to London."

The weasel got to his feet and exited out the office. "Leigh, do you realize what you just did?" Carmelita asked, her hand on her face. Leigh answered her while taking his badge off, and dropped it on the desk. "Aye, taking your punishments. Saving my brother." He started taking out his custom .45, but Barkley held up his hand. "Believe me, son, your gonna need it." Leigh hesitated for a moment and then slipped it back in the holster. "Well, I'm gonna be taking some needed R&R." Leigh grinned and walked out the office. The others watched him walk down the stairs on the opposite side of the building. Sly, still in disbelief "I think he just wrote his own death warrant."

Later as the son began setting that day, Sly and Carmelita decided to take a walk through the park. They were talking about Leigh's suspension and how much of an idiot Patterson was. "I'm still in disbelief about Leigh not hitting anyone for a month." Sly said, as he walked with his wife, hands in his pockets. "I'm mean it might be good for a change in nature for him, but that also includes defending himself doesn't it?" Carmelita nodded ruefully. "Unfortunately. But it's his decision." She said as they started walking over a stone bridge.

Carmelita then noticed something on her left as they made it to the center of the bride. What she saw, stopped her in her tracks. It was Leigh standing on the path below them, facing the bridge and six other individuals. "Sly?" she said, her husband seeing their partner and both moved to the railing. "Uh-oh." Sly simply said as he saw Garret glaring at the other men in front of him. "You gave us a lot of trouble, Garret." The leader of the group said cracking his knuckles. It was the intelligence officers they had faced yesterday.

Leigh looked up slightly at the bridge. Seeing his friends, he grinned. "Well, if you red-eyed buggers got something to do," He said looking at the crooked intelligence officers. "Get it done." He tightened up, knowing what was to come.

To the Cooper's horror, all of the intel officers rushed. The leader then smashed his fist into Garret chin. The wolf stumbled backwards but mostly kept his posture. Another then drove hard into Leigh's stomach, he actually left the ground and the Englishmen fell flat on the ground. The intel cops stopped momentarily and began jeering the fallen wolf. "I think Garret's lost his nerve!" One of them shouted as they began laughing. After mocking him, they continued with the very savage beating. "Man, that's ugly!" Sly said wincing at the scene. "Is that a tooth?" Carmelita asked, cringing. The worst part was the Coopers were forced to do nothing.

As it now came to kicking. Sly couldn't watch anymore and turned his head away. When he did this however, something caught his eye. It was a person hiding behind a tree about fifty yards from the brutal scene. Sly squinted to see who it was and did not believe his eyes. It was Patterson. He was watching, Leigh getting the life beat out of him. He looked furious. Sly turned his head to use his acute hearing cause he noticed the weasel muttering to himself. "Your tougher then I thought, Garret." This is what Sly heard as Patterson walked away, not noticing either him or Carmelita next to him.

This lasted for another ten minutes before the intel cops, laughing, left Leigh lying on his back as they walked away. After they had passed from ear shot, Sly and Carmelita hurried off the bridge and knelt down next to the bloodied and beaten Garret. "Hey guys." He said weakly, blood oozing out of his mouth. "Hi, Leigh." Sly said as they helped him to his feet. "I didn't hit em." Leigh said, as Sly and Carmelita started dragging Garret down the sidewalk. "I didn't hit em." "We know, _jefe_. We know." Carmelita said as the Cooper's tried to share Leigh's weight between them.

After calling Eaglehorn and Mallary, they loaded Garret up into his truck and took him back to his apartment. They dragged him on to his bed, and called both the chief and Grace. They told the chief of the situation and he was outraged. Sly felt the heat on the other end as he told Barkley about Patterson arranging it. The chief calmed down slightly and said, "I'm gonna see if I can dig anything up about Patterson's so-called 'authority' of his." Sly then heard the line click and hung up.

Grace walked through the door, carrying a bag of medical supplies. "I got here as quick as I could." She said and saw Leigh on his bed. "God, they did a number on him didn't they?" she knelt down and opened up the bag. "Hello Gracie." Leigh said as he put his hand on her face. "Hey." She said as she ignored his hand and started to get to work on patching him up.

"Boss." Eaglehorn started to say, but Leigh interrupted him. "No. There is to be no retaliation for this." He said as he gritted his teeth and sat up. "If what Sly tells me is right, then we'll play right into that prick's hand." Carmelita nodded. "Right, we make a move, we might as well take your brother to McCall himself." Mark sighed as he could say anything.

Leigh winced as Grace dabbed a cotton ball with alcohol on the gash that had opened up. "Well, it might be better if you stay here for the rest of the time." She said, but Leigh shook his head. "I'm not going to rot in this place for a month. And it would make them think I'm a coward." He said. Carmelita scoffed at this remark and responded saying, "It won't help much if they beat you to death either, will it?"

Though the others also argued the same, Leigh was adamant. He stood up, despite the pain and walked out of his apartment. "I'll never understand that guy." Eaglehorn said as he motioned to Mallary the door and the two exited behind Garret. "It's understandable. I wouldn't want to be cooped up in one place for a month." Sly said as he leaned against the wall.

The three began looking around the apartment, since they never been in Leigh's apartment. What they saw was a lot of family and English heritage. On one wall was the Union Jack surrounded by pictures of Garret with friends in both Iraq and Afghanistan. There were also pictures of two other men, in older pictures, Leigh's father in the Falklands war, and his grandfather in the second world war.

One picture caught Carmelita's eye, it was one of Leigh and another man, a lynx. They had arms on each other's shoulders and they were smiling. Both had the desert tiger camouflage, the lynx a matching Boonie hat, and Leigh wearing a beige beret. It was in Iraq, since it was mostly desert and no where near the amount of mountains in Afghanistan. "Who do you think he is?" Carmelita asked as she moved closer to inspect the picture. "Don't know, Leigh never talks about what happened in the military." Grace said as she closed the medical bag.

"Well whoever he is," Sly said as he regain his posture, "He's in nearly every picture." He then moved over and picked up another one. "Including this one." He show them the old photograph of two children in the same pose as the last one. Carmelita laughed at the sight of photo. "Leigh as a _nino_. I never even imagined." she said as Sly set the picture down.

After a week of the suspension, it wasn't looking good for Leigh. Word had spread that he wasn't fighting and many people who had a grudge against him, were now beating him senseless on a daily basis. When he came back with two broken ribs, many Interpol cops began to have enough and volunteered to bodyguard him. This of course was turned down by Garret.

The chief along with Sly and Carmelita began frantically making calls to other divisions and to the both directors of Interpol, mostly coming up dry with even any knowledge of the brawl a week earlier. Until finally Carmelita spoke to the deputy director of the French division. "Ok, your sure, sir?" She asked on the phone as she listened closely. Sly and Barkley waited patiently. "_Absolutamente_, sir. Can you be here tomorrow? _Gracias._" She then hung up the phone, grinning.

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Leigh was lying in pain on his bed. Another bunch of hoodlums had beaten him up that very day. He was trying to get some sleep when the phone, thankfully, was next to him on a nightstand, began ringing. He strained as he picked it up and said hoarsely, "What?" He then heard chief Barkley's voice on the other end. "Garret, the deputy director is coming in tomorrow and wishes to speak to both you and Mr. Patterson." Leigh groaned as he sat up, surprised at what his boss had said. "Why?" he asked, still in pain. "You'll find out when you get here. A car will be by to pick up at 10 a.m., and that's not negotiable, Garret." The line clicked and Leigh was left wondering what this was all about.

The morning had come faster then he expected, and Garret got no sleep that night, for several reasons. The top two being the meeting with the deputy director, and the recurring nightmares he keeps getting.

So feeling tired, in pain, and groggy, Leigh Garret was driven to Interpol by Sly and the two entered Barkley's office. Inside was the chief himself, the deputy director; a lion, and Carmelita. "Mr. deputy director." Leigh said and nodded to him. The lion remained silent, but returned the nod. "Where's Patterson?" He said as he cringed while sitting down. "He'll be here in a moment." The deputy director said in a deep booming voice.

"At the moment I would like to discuss the behavior of the six intelligence officers who so kindly gave you those shiners." He quipped, pointing to the black marks around Garret's eyes. "What they didn't know was a security camera at a small business across the park caught the whole thing a week ago. Plus with your partners testimonies on the time, place, date of this savage beating, the evidence was overwhelming." He said as he grinned. Carmelita finished it for him. "Basically, they'll be tried and convicted, and remember that lady we defended a week ago, she came forward with a testimony of her own."

At that moment the weasel Patterson walked into the office. "Alright, Barkley." He said as he slammed the door shut. "There better be a good excuse as to--" He fell silent when he saw the lion only two feet from him. Patterson became suddenly very pale, and gave a nervous smile. "Mr. director." He said, forcing a nervous laugh. "What a pleasant surprise."

The lion motioned for him to sit down. After he did what he was told the lion became very frank. "Patterson, I'm gonna need that badge of yours." He said leaning forward, intimidating the weasel even further. "Uh-- why?" Patterson asked, loosening his collar. Sweat began appearing across his brow. "Because you falsified authority and rank. As a matter of fact, no one even gave you the permission to even butt in to a Parisian affair."

Patterson was as pale as a corpse, he glanced over to Garret, who was now glaring at him. His little lie was now exposed. The director stood up and said, "Now I want that shield!" he threw aside Patterson's lapels and snatched the silver badge away from him. "Your anger and jealousy nearly cost this inspector his life, nor did you have any right to threaten his family."

Carmelita then spoke. "And two of those intelligence guys gave out a very similar confession. They said that they were sent to Paris so you would have an excuse to even barge in on our territory, you stupid _pinchazo_." Leigh and Sly raised their eye brows at her, very surprised. They knew that it wasn't smart to anger her, and Patterson was receiving the full treatment.

The deputy director then grabbed the lapels and forced the weasel to stand. The lion turned to Leigh and he said, "Mr. Garret after all you've been through, you've got my permission to poke this bastard in the face." Patterson looked at him with shock. "What?" He said in disbelief. Leigh thought about it for a moment, before smiling and shaking his head. "It's tempting, and lord knows I want to." He said, but he straightened up and gave his reason. "Believe it or not, I've learned to only use that type of force on the thugs who ask for on the job. That this bugger did make me learn." He sighed deeply from the effort of ignoring the pain he was experiencing.

"And besides, I'm hurting too much to barely stand." Leigh added as he slumped back against the chair and wall. Patterson breathed a sigh of relief that the wolf wasn't going to hit him. "Mr. director, could you open the door please?" Carmelita said she moved away from the chief's desk and next to Leigh, in front of Patterson. The lion shrugged and pushed the door open, the sounds of the other inspectors and constables working flooded in.

"Well I'm glad that Leigh won't hit him." She said as she turned her head to Leigh. The wolf looked up at the vixen, and found she winked at him. "Oh, and why is that?" The lion asked as Patterson whipped his brow. "Because I'm gonna hit him." She said, and with incredible speed, she threw a strong punch right into the weasel's face. He was thrown out of the office and crashed over a desk, unconscious. She winced and started shaking her hand. The other Interpol officers began applauding, cheering, or pounding on their desks when they saw it was Carmelita who hit Patterson.

"Damn woman." Leigh said as winced from his own pain. Sly couldn't help but laugh and kiss his wife. "Now you know why I married her." He said as he put his shoulder around her. "Just don't make me mad, Cooper." Carmelita said, holding a fist close to his face. The director laughed and said to Barkley, "Jim, you got some good cops here." Barkley didn't seem so thrilled. "Yes, but it's a pain to control them."

The director cleared his throat and turned to Leigh. "Inspector Garret, you suspension is rescinded and you'll get a week long paid vacation. My treat." He added the last bit cause the last thing Barkley hated was granting passes. "I'll take you up on that offer sir, cause I've got a lady friend I want to spend time with." Leigh said, then snapped his fingers at Sly and Carmelita. "Okay, you two pick me up, I can't feel my legs at the moment." The Coopers laughed and slide an arm over their shoulders and started dragging Leigh. "You'll get this one for free, _cabron_." Carmelita said as they had cheering and laughing all the way out.

The director turned back to Barkley and looked at his watch. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get to the golf course. The President is betting a case of scotch." He joked, gave a two fingered salute to the chief and left. Barkley chuckled as he sorted some paper work and took a puff from his cigar. "This has been an interesting week."

_And that's Chapter 14 people. Don't worry the story isn't going in a new direction, CH.15 will get back to them hunting the Renegades, and it won't be fun. Especially for the team._

_You know the drill Review what you liked and disliked about it kids. Ciao._


	15. Chapter 15

_Alright, chapter 15. Now that I've gotten back on the beaten track, it's time to give the game a new addition. Another danger basically. And another problem facing the team. But that's all I'm gonna say to yous._

_You want to know what these are, read._

Chapter 15

It was the end of rush hour in the London subway of Tottenham Court Road station. The trains were now dropping the rest of the work force off to go home. Business workers, blue-collars, and others were pushing past each other either make way for the exits or getting on the trains to go to another station.

Most of them paid hardly any attention to the man sitting on the floor against one of the pillars. He had a trench coat, jeans, very worn boots, and a fedora perched low over his head. A empty bottle of Jack Daniels was next to him and he was muttering incoherently. The general population in the station figured him to be another homeless drunk.

That's what the patrolmen thought as he approached the intoxicated man. "Oi, mate. You can't stay here." The policeman said as he knelt down next to him. The man mumbled indistinctively, and raised his head only slightly. He was a wolf. Only his eyes weren't that of a drunken fool, far from it. They were focused, direct, and aware. He pointed his eyes downwards, motioning to something in his hand. The officer followed this movement, and saw a gold shield. An Interpol badge.

This man was Leigh Garret. He was on a sting operation. The officer saw this immediately and really subtle like, moved away. Leigh lowered his head and said quietly, "Everyone ready?" He was of course speaking into a radio. Sly was on the opposite side of the station, he was in a business suit with a briefcase in his hand. "I'm set over here." Carmelita was across from Leigh, she was in her usual outfit, only she had her hair tied up into a pony tail, a ball cap covering her head, and special sunglasses. "Set." Outside on top of a building across from the station, a sniper lay on her belly. "If any pulls a weapon, I'll put them down." Mallary Davis said, with a Knight's Armament M110 Semi-auto sniper rifle at the ready. Outside the doors, Soto and Pengelly were on either side. "Ready out here, mate." Roger said as he leaned against the wall. Nearby in the Cooper van, Murray was behind the wheel of his beloved vehicle, with Luigi in the passenger seat, Penelope and Bentley were monitoring images that Carmelita was sending with her sunglasses. "Images are good here, Leigh." Bentley said as he monitored the sunglasses camera, and images from the station's closed circuits. Opposite of Murray, on the next street, Eaglehorn was in a black SUV, ready for his signal.

Another train pulled up and the passengers spilt out, simply minding their own business. "Okay, this is the target's train." Leigh said as he kept his eyes open. "Remember, if Darby sees us, he'll pull a runner." Carmelita's eyes were darting through the crowd, looking for their suspect. Sly was in his spot, should Darby jump the tracks. "Also, he's probably gonna be both cautious and armed, don't pop him if you don't have to." Leigh said as he slumped back slightly, keeping his drunken demeanor.

In the van, Bentley was still scanning the crowd as they exited the train, when he noticed something. "Carmelita, pan right." he said, and the image turned to the right and he saw what had caught his eye. "Okay hold it. Leigh I think I see him." An alligator in a business suit, and brief case was at the center of the screen. On either side of him were two hulking gorillas, both in black suits, ties, and sunglasses. One could confuse them with American secret service.

"We've got a possible fix on Clarence Darby." Penelope said into a headphone connected not only to the team, but to an intercom on chief Barkley's desk. "Verifying now." she said as she began typing madly on the keyboard. Everyone, was on pins and needles, waiting for an answer. Everyone save Leigh.

After a few moments of waiting, Penelope finally said, "90% match, it's him." Leigh fixated on the gator and gave the order, "Right, lets get him." After most of the passengers had left, Darby and his thugs were following behind them. In order for them to reach the exits, they'd have to go through Carmelita or Leigh.

Garret stood up and Carmelita pulled out her shock pistol. As Leigh drew his weapon, Carmelita shouted, "Darby! Interpol! Your under arrest!" When the alligator heard the vixen, he spun around, took one look at her and ran for the exit next to Leigh. One of the body guards began running in front of him. The other withdrew a Glock 17 and started firing at Carmelita. Fox took cover behind one of the pillars, as people panicked and ran for the exits. While the ape kept shooting at Fox, Sly pulled out his own shock pistol and fired a burst through the train's windows. A blob of electricity slammed into the right side of his wife's attacker.

Meanwhile the second gorilla had slammed Leigh out of his path and both him and Darby ran for the stairs. The second body guard didn't last long, because Garret got back to his feet, jumped on the thug's back and started hammer fisting his head. Sly had feral jumped across the lines, narrowly being missed by a speeding train, and started chasing after Darby.

After Leigh performed a choke hold, knocking the gorilla out, he followed Sly up the stairs, throwing his duster off. Darby had somehow wormed his way through Soto and Pengelly and now was running flat out in the streets of London. Sly and the other two were right behind him. Leigh had disappeared down an alley way parallel to the street Darby was running on.

At that moment the alligator pulled out his own Glock and started blindly firing behind him. As the three Interpol took cover, Darby dropped his brief case. He didn't try to recover it as he kept running.

As he turned around to watch where hew was running, a fist appeared and slammed into Darby's head. He nearly pulled a back flip as Leigh slammed his hand hard into the alligator. Darby landed on his stomach and was knocked out.

Garret sighed and pulled out the radio. "Target has been nicked." he said as Sly, Soto, and Pengelly showed up. Sly panted as he pulled out some handcuffs. "How'd you know where he was going?" he said as the raccoon snapped the metal braces on the gator's hands. "Lad, I spent a portion of my life in this city. Can't hide from me here."

Later back at Interpol, Darby was sitting in an interrogating room, with only three chairs. He was still handcuffed to the table as his free hand was rubbing his left eye, now black and swollen. He had been left alone in that room for quite awhile and was becoming both impatient and irritated. "When y'all gonna let me loose?" He shouted, not taking the solitude anymore.

A moment later, the door opened up, revealing Leigh, Sly, and Carmelita. "Hey Clarence." Leigh said calmly as he sat down. "Well Mr. Darby," Fox said, moving behind the alligator. "Your in a lot of trouble." Darby didn't seemed surprised, just relaxed. "Oh, yeah? What's the felony?" He said, grinning. "Well here, let me spell it out for you." Sly said as he leaned against the wall. "You got distribution of illegal and stolen firearms, laundering, conspiracy to import weapons abroad, not to mention you're the assistant treasurer to the entire Renegade organization."

"And you had an illegal firearm, resisted arrest, and fired at peace officers." Carmelita said, with anger in her voice. The alligator merely chuckled. "I didn't do any of those, and who are the Renegades? I work financing for Eagle Defensive Contracting Syndicate." Darby said rather calmly. "And as for the hog leg, and shooting, I didn't see any badges, so I thought you were going to kill me." Carmelita laughed. "Yeah, that's your day job." She said as she moved behind his shoulder. "What your really doing is stealing both money and modified submachine guns, then selling to your _real_ employers."

Darby again grinned, and starred at the vixen. "Even if that wet fantasy of yours was real, do you have any evidence to back it up?" Sly rolled his eyes in irritation. The alligator was seeing through their ruse. The only thing they really had on him was the distribution of wealth, and he could easily skate off that.

While this thing was going on, Leigh had sat quietly across from the alligator. The calm and silent wolf, took just about everyone by surprise. "Well, asshole?" Darby said irritably. "Aren't ya gonna 'intearogate' me?" To everyone surprise this time, Leigh just shook his head. "No. Just not too thrilled that I'm talking to a dead man." Garret said, changing the gator's expression immediately. "Dead? What-" His eyes widening with anxiety.

"The American Federal Bureau of Investigation has declared you a suspect for selling guns on the black market from a defense contractor." Leigh said as he leaned forward, intimidating Darby even further. "That's treason Clarence. They execute people for that." Leigh's eyes went to the Coopers and they understood where he was going. "That's right. This is actually the FBI's case, they just asked us to help them with bagging you." Sly said as he leaned against the wall. "When the Feds ask us to turn you over, we'll do exactly that. You'll be back in Washington D.C in time for your last meal." Carmelita said coldly.

Leigh then leaned back in his chair. "Then again we could always spread the word on the streets that you broke and told us everything you knew." He said as he quickly popped a pill into his mouth, making sure not to show any pain. "I'm not so sure your employers would be too elated about that little tid-bit." When Darby starred at him, slightly confused, Leigh knew he was starring at his heart pills. "Migraines." He lied.

"The fact of the matter remains; your buggered either way you look." He continued before adding, "Unless-" Darby interrupted him however. "Unless I help you out." Leigh waited a moment before nodding. "All you have to do is give us the place of the hierarchy's next meeting and when." Carmelita said, and both her partners knew she hated herself for saying, "If you do that, we'll forget about you and your involvement." Sly then added wryly, "Your good with numbers aren't you?" Leigh scoffed quietly when his best mate said that. Basically if Darby helped Interpol, not only would he be 'forgotten', but he could also make off with a bonus. Courtesy of the Renegade's weapon's money.

It didn't take the alligator long to come up with his answer. "Paris. The warehouse district. Two days from now."

And with that, the Inspectors left the alligator alone in the interrogation room.

Outside the room, Bentley, Penelope and Eaglehorn were waiting. "Bentley, you and Penelope start digging around to see if anything big is happening in the warehouse district in two days time." Sly said as all of them except Leigh grabbed their coats. "Will do, Sly."

Leigh cocked his thumb back to Barkley's office and said, "I got to report to the chief. I'll see all of you tonight at the Police gala." He then was about to walk away, but Carmelita then asked, "You bringing Grace?" she then coughed a few times. The flu was going around in force this late into the year, everyone assumed that she was beginning to catch it. "Aye, we'll be arriving a little later though. She insisted that I go Christmas shopping with her." Sly chuckled. "Well you just make sure she get's something for all of us." he joked as Carmelita jabbed him in the stomach. "Yeah, no promises."

It was then Carmelita became rigid, startling everyone. Before her other half could ask what was wrong, she bolted from the spot and ran straight to the lavatory. Terror-stricken Sly followed after her. After the door shut, the others waited outside. Leigh cringed as his ears perked up and heard the sound of retching. Penelope covered her mouth when she heard it too. "Poor girl." Eaglehorn said as he shook his head. "Think it's that H1N1?" he asked Leigh who just shrugged. "She's going to hate me for it, but I'm asking the chief that she takes a holiday." Leigh said as he walked away.

After a few moments Carmelita appeared looking considerably weak. Sly was right behind her, ready to catch her if she fainted. "You alright?" Eaglehorn asked sounding concerned. "Yes, I'm going to the doctor now." She said, then faced her husband. "I know your being sweet, but I would like to get there on my own power." Sly sighed, not surprised by her stubbornness. "Can you at least let me drop you off?" Sly asked. To their surprise, after a moment she nodded. "I just don't want to walk in the snow."

After Murray took them back to the safe house, both Bentley and Penelope immediately strode over to the office full of computers and books. "If you two need anything, let us know, eh?" Mark said as he and Murray went upstairs.

While Bentley did as Sly asked him to, Penelope was working on something else. The temple in Romania and the findings of similar temples across the globe had caught her interest. She found out that there were more temples of the same architect and glyphs as the one in Romania only bigger in Japan, Egypt, England, even in the Caribbean, and North America. The appearance of these structures in such strange locations was both fascinating, and disturbing.

The only thing that connected them together was the mysterious bird of prey symbol. Though she had never seen what he was, but she remembered the stories of Clockwerk. The way Sly, Bentley, and Murray described him, was frightening. How someone with so much hatred that lived for well over a couple dozen centuries, had brought so much misery on a rival family.

She like the others were more than grateful that he was just a memory and his parts were dust in the wind.

As for these temples, glyphs and symbols, they remained another mystery.

Leigh opened up his apartment door, and after securing it, shouted, "Oi, Grace?" he then hung his coat up and looked around. His apartment was more or less the same even after Grace moved in. "Yeah, I'm in the shower." He heard her call out.

He went into the bathroom and sat down on the toilet. "So how are you?" Leigh asked as he laid his head against the wall and rested his eyes. "I'm alright." Grace said from behind the curtain. Leigh was respectful and kept his eyes closed. "I talked to Penelope, how's Carmelita doing?" Leigh groaned and said, "She's not well. Maybe the flu." The water turned off and still behind the curtain, Grace took hold of a waiting towel. "That's what Penelope said." Grace told him as she stepped out of the shower, the towel concealing anything personal.

Leigh decided to change the subject and asked, "Are we still going to the gala tonight?" Garret asked as groaned from the long day. "Of course. Just say when." Grace said as she used another towel to dry her head.

"Well, I think we've finally might get our hands on Travis." Leigh said as he sighed and quickly swallowed another nitro tablet. "Really?" Grace asked, sounding pleased with this. "Well that's good. You'll be able to stop him, right?"

Leigh sat silently, thinking deeply. "Leigh?" Grace asked as she knelt down next to him. He shook his head. "No." Garret said, still thinking deeply. "There's no way, he would be convicted on any charges." Leigh put his hand over his eyes, pinioned by what he knew he would have to do. "He'd bribe the judges, frighten the jurors, or simply disappear."

Grace slowly figured out what his intentions truly were. "So that means…" She found herself unable to finish the sentence. Grace had been with Leigh long enough to know what he would, and as she saw it, must do.

She then gently held his head against her chest, trying to comfort him. Knowing full well how painful it was to the ex-soldier. He had survived many things. Though she knew to him it was necessary, Grace actually doubted that he would pull through this one.

That night, nearly all of the Paris division of Interpol had gathered at Versailles palace. To honor those who had given everything, to celebrate new arrivals, and to bid farewell to those who were retiring. All the men were dressed either in ceremonial uniforms or if they were not Interpol they wore tuxedos. And of course the women, both police and civilians alike wore dresses of all kinds.

That night, Carmelita wore her favorite red dress. The same she had worn to both a ball in India some years ago, and the gala where Sly truly touched her heart.

Though not feeling well, her stubbornness had kept her out of the sick bed, and brought her here tonight. She also looked both uplifted, even cheerful. This turn of moods made Sly and everyone around her feel very happy.

Everyone on the team was also there, even Bentley in a rental tuxedo, Penelope in a cream blue dress, and Murray whose tuxedo was on the verge of exploding from his girth. Something that Sly was trying hard not to laugh at.

For now he just sat next to his wife and struck up a conversation with Pengelly.

An hour after Sly and Carmelita arrived, Grace and Leigh appeared and sat down next to them. To their surprise, Leigh was not wearing either a Interpol Uniform, or a tuxedo. He instead was wearing the Khaki British army officer's uniform. This made him stick out like a sore thumb in the black tuxedos and naval blue uniforms. Grace was wearing the same blue dress that she had worn at the Cooper wedding.

"Ello Sly." Leigh said shaking his friend's hand, "Leigh." Grace gave him a friendly kiss on the cheek and also bid Sly hello. The two sat down and Sly couldn't help but laugh and ask, "Why a military uniform, Leigh?" Garret merely shrugged and said, "Personal reasons, lad."

"So Carmelita, how are you feeling?" Grace asked as she took her seat. Fox smiled and nodded. "Very well, thank you."

Soon as the time went by, everyone was on the floor, dancing.

A slow, compassionate song.

Carmelita was had the arms of the man she loved most, around her waist.

Through Sly's instinct, he knew something was on Carmelita's mind. "Something wrong?" He asked as they kept dancing.

"Sly…" Carmelita said, lifting her head. She was smiling. "Have you ever wondered, what it would be like to be called…" Sly then interrupted her, feeling slightly concerned. "Called what?"

Carmelita smiled a enormous smiled, and answered him. "Called 'Papa?'"

Sly stared at her in disbelief. "What? You're kidding!" Sly said as he started smiling. "No, two and a half months." Carmelita said, as Sly then kissed her and embraced her tightly.

_Again, I'm sorry it took so long to write this thing. I'm busy with my Fallout story and college. Not to mention writer's block. Don't worry folks I made a promise to finish this sucker, and I will._


	16. Chapter 16

_Hi, everyone. It seems strange that I'm writing this again. Especially since it's been so long since my last chapter was written. But I made a solemn promise when I started out to finish this, and I plan on doing that._

Chapter Sixteen

The snow came down harder as Christmas season came closer. Families were getting excited to see each other, practice their traditions, and exchange gifts.

Unfortunately the old sayings 'no rest for the wicked' and 'no rest for the weary' was especially prevalent for the war that was raging between the Renegades and the Interpol officers trying to arrest them. The two days had gone by rather quickly for the team and now they were preparing themselves for an intense fight.

Sly and Carmelita were going in exceptionally light, taking only Kevlar vests, and non-lethal weapons. Sly took his shock pistol, and for added security just in case his .22 pistol. Carmelita stuck to the basics and only took her shock pistol.

Leigh on the other hand was going all out. He took both an M4 assault rifle, a Remington shotgun, a thick SWAT-grade ballistic vest, a ballistic helmet, fingerless gloves, knee pads, and extra ammunition. "Um, Leigh, this isn't a war zone we are going into." Carmelita said, as she slipped a wool on her head.

Mallory who was readying her PSG-90 sniper rifle glanced over at her. "Good-luck trying to convince him otherwise." She said chuckling after putting her weapon down, and putting on a white coat.

To Sly's surprise Murray and Bentley were going out as well.

"You two sure about that? These guys are a little more dangerous than the blokes you've gone up against before." Leigh said as he slipped shells into a bandolier.

"We may not be ex soldiers like you Leigh, but that doesn't mean we can handle ourselves." Bentley said as he primed his advanced wheel chair. Which was quite impressive to Leigh, not being completely in tune with technology.

"The 'Murray' which pummel any who crosses him!" Murray shouted, raising his arms, and flexing his massive muscles. Leigh chuckled, he admired the hippo's courage.

Penelope loaded her remote controlled helicopter into the Cooper van. "I'll provide recon and support for you, Mallory, with my RC copter." She said and took hold of the remote. The puma nodded in agreement. "I appreciate an extra set of eyes for me out there.

"Alright everyone. Let's go." Mark said as he readied his Berretta 92. And with that, everyone going was out the door.

The ride in the van was fairly tight with all the Interpol cops in the back. Bentley had to ride in back due to his disability and it would allow Mallory who was up front in the passenger seat, to get out quicker.

"So, what else do we know about this meet?" Mark asked as he bounced around in the back along with everyone else. Leigh shook his head. "No idea over here. Bentley care to add anything to this?" The wolf asked glancing over to the turtle.''

"Well, we know that the place has got heavy security in the forms of rotating guard shifts, and electronic locks." Bentley began as he pulled out a blueprint of the warehouse. "Though those obstacles shouldn't pose to much of a challenge."

Leigh's ears perked up when he looked out the front window and saw they had entered the warehouse district. "Alright, Mallory, you know where to go?" He asked tapping the Puma on the shoulder.

Mallory nodded and pulled her seatbelt off.

"And..." Leigh began, as the van slowed down at a corner. "Go." With this Mallory opened the door and disappeared into the falling snow.

As the van pulled away Leigh crawled over the seats and into the passenger side. The van was quickly approaching their position. Leigh racked the bolt on his M4 quickly, and then the wolf sighed. "Alright, Penelope, are things good on your end?" He said into his headset.

"Roger. I'm getting busy over here." Her voice came from the radio.

"Good. Keep at it." Leigh answered and it was then the van came to a stop. "Lets get it done." And Leigh along with everyone else jumped out of the van and headed for the warehouse that supposedly held the meeting between the hierarchy of the Renegades.

_"Alright, Penelope, are things good on our end?"_ Leigh said across the line. As Mallory scrambled up the ladder, her sniper rifle strapped tightly to her back, she listened to the short radio conversation between Garret and Penelope.

_"Roger. I'm getting busy over here."_ Penelope said.

It was then there was quick thud above Mallory and when she looked up, she saw a German shepherd wearing a camouflage uniform, struggling to get a grappling hook off him. The hook had been launched by a small helicopter silhouetted by the snow. The helicopter let lose with a sharp boost and the guard went flying.

Mallory flattened herself against the ladder as he yelled on his way down and landed on the ground with a sharp and dull thud. "Yeesh." Mallory said glancing down at the incapacitated guard. Mallory clambered up the ladder at a quickened pace.

Once she was up on the roof, she pulled out her Colts and bolted across the rooftops, leaping when she needed to.

It was then Penelope came onto Mallory's headset and said, "You got two bad guys ahead of you." Sure enough when she moved through the heavy shroud of the snow, Mallory saw two guards a head of her.

"Care to help out?" Mallory said, not breaking her pace.

"Sure." Penelope's answer was and an instant later a grappling slammed into the back of the right side of guard. He grunted, and a split second later, with him screaming, was launched into the air.

The second guard glanced around to see what happened, and what launched his partner. Only at the last second did he see Mallory. Of course by then she had performed a running jump kick and sent him over the edge.

She then knelt down and said, "I'm in position."

Leigh nodded and motioned for Sly, Carmelita, Bentley to follow him. Inside the warehouse, it was dark, and strangely quiet.

"Where is everyone?" Carmelita asked. "Why are there no guards?"

This was odd. For a meeting of the top members of a syndicate, there should at least be dozens of guards, yet in here, there was no one.

"Mark, Rog, Soto, Murray, you lads find anything on your end?" Leigh asked into his headset.

"Negative. It's quiet-like." Pengelly's voice came from the radio.

Leigh was worried that there was nobody aside from them. It was disturbing.

As they entered the main storage area, they saw that it was practically empty. A few crates laid scattered across the room, and there was very little light to illuminate the place at all.

"Did we get the wrong information?" Carmelita whispered.

It was then that the other group came in, looking just as confused as they did. "If that little puke Darby lied to us..." Mark said looking angry.

"No. There were guards outside...and the place was locked up." Sotoshi said as he holstered his SIG-Sauer. Leigh nodded in agreement.

"Soto's right. We've been made." the wolf said irritably, lowering his M4.

It was then a light popped on at the top of the gang walk to the right of them. There a single wolf stood, the same suit he wore in Romania. He laughed and clapped his hands. The Interpol cops all aimed their weapons up at him.

"Well done, brother!" Travis said lowering his hands. "Travis!" Leigh seethed aiming the assault rifle up at Travis. "You figured it out." The older brother said.

"Oh, and before you think of either killing me or arresting me, know that this building has been wired with high explosives." Travis said plainly like he was reading a news paper. The team kept the guns leveled anyway.

Sly was then the first to speak. "You knew we'd come here. You set us up? Why?" Travis then paced back and forth along the gang walk. "Oh, I wanted to bring you all here, to see how you would react." Travis said as he rubbed his eyes.

"React to what?" Leigh growled, switching the safety off his rifle.

It was then another voice came in, only it was on the opposite side of the warehouse. "To this lads." Another light had appeared and two figures were on the opposite gang walk. The first was a short weasel with a ski coat and cargo pants.

"Hello Hazer." Leigh said flatly. The jaw of the wolf fidgeting a little. "'Ello Leftenenat. How's that jaw treating you?" Hazer asked mockingly. "Why don't you come down here, I'll show you." Leigh said, keeping his weapon pointed at Travis. "Thanks mate, but I think I'll pass."

It was then they noticed the other figure. A beaten Ocelot, stripped down to his pants.

"Walker?" Carmelita said. Leigh glanced at Carmelita for a second then squinted. Sure enough he could tell it was former Inspector Walker. He was chained, and the chains were attached to a tackle. Hazer slowly began to lower him down to the ground as Walker groaned.

"Well, not to sound clichéd, but if that's what you do to your friends I'd hate to see what you do to your enemies." Sly said glancing at Walker.

Travis chuckled despite all the weapons aimed at him. "Oh, his use is not finished yet." He said and then held up a small device in his hands. He then jammed his thumb onto the main button.

Walker fidgeted violently, then began screaming, and clutching something at his neck. Everyone became nervous as they watched him.

Sly's sharp eyes then noticed what Walker was grasping. It was a small black collar, snuggly wrapped around his throat. "Uh-oh." He said as Walker kept straining and screaming.

It was then his head jerked back, followed by a sickening crack that made even Sotoshi cringe. Then Walker just stopped, his head still pointing straight to the ceiling. The only sound he mad now was the sound of his breathing, and a low growl.

The ocelot lowered his head. "Jesus." Leigh said under his breath.

Walker, if there was anything left of him at the moment, had his teeth exposed, out of his fangs slowly came drool, but most disturbing was his eyes. Blank, completely blank, not even the iris.

"See, I modified the chemicals in those collars slightly," Travis began as he leaned against the wall behind him. "They now listen to me, and to me alone. Plus they, from what I've seen, are wicked faster and stronger now." He said chuckling. "Wouldn't you say so Daniel?"

"I would say so boss." Hazer said as he then disappeared into the shadows.

It was then Travis' expression became serious. "But I've stalled long enough. Walker," He said and the creature in front of the gang grunted and stared up at him. "Kill them one by one." Travis himself then vanished back into the shadows.

Everyone glanced back at Walker, and to their horror saw him running flat out at unbelievable speeds. Mark managed to raise his weapon up at the charging animal only to backhanded off his feet and clear over Sly's head, and down on Leigh and Soto.

Luigi swung around, only to have the same thing happen to him, hurtling in to a pile of debris, pipes clanked as they dropped from above him and buried him.

Pengelly swung the stock of his shotgun hard into the back of the head. Walker took the impact of the hit, then spun around and glared at Roger. The Rottweiler move his shotgun into position to shoot, only the creature grabbed the barrel with it's right hand. The weapon discharged sending buckshot harmlessly into the ceiling.

Pengelly then took a jab to the stomach, knocking the wind out of him, which was followed up by a powerful uppercut, and like the others he went down.

Murray watching his friends get hurt, let out a guttural roar and charged the ocelot. Once he was there he began slugging Walker hard with both fists. Unfortunately for him, Walker was fighting back too, only with claws and his teeth as well. Even with his mighty strength, Murray just couldn't take anymore, and after sustaining dozens of cuts and bruises collapsed to the ground.

Sly and Carmelita answered this attack by firing their shock pistols. The energy blobs smashed into the ocelot's chest and then dissipated. These two hits seem to only make the enraged Walker even angrier. As they tried to fire again the Ocelot charged rammed Sly knocking him to the ground.

What happened next horrified everyone around them.

Walker, after plowing through Sly, shot his arm out and grabbed by the throat the nearest person next to him. Carmelita.

The ocelot lifted her in the air, her hands wrapped around his arm, gasping for air.

As Leigh scrambled to his feet to take aim with his handgun as using the shotgun was too dangerous for Carmelita, he then saw something he didn't want to happen. Sly shot up in a rage and actually tackled the ocelot.

Leigh rose to his feet and tried to get his target but Sly obstructed Walker. "Sly god damn it, get off!" He shouted.

But the raccoon didn't even hear him, as he tried slugging the stunned ocelot. Only Walker recovered and in one quick move flung the raccoon off himself.

As Walker clambered to his feet he spun around and faced Leigh Garrett. "Sorry, mate." He said before depressing the trigger on the shotgun. The close range buckshot blew a large hole out of the Ocelot's left shoulder. Leigh racked the bolt and fired again, hitting him in the stomach. Again he pumped the weapon, another buckshot slammed into the right arm. He kept firing until down to his last shell, he pumped it one last time, and fired. The buckshot buried itself into the center mass of the chest. The specter of Walker dropped to his knees then finally flat on his face, dead.

Time seemed to stop as everyone tried to make sense of what had just happened.

Soto and Pengelly helped pull Luigi out of the debris, the pincher was disgruntled and bruised but otherwise unharmed. Mark sighed as he sat on the ground relieved that it was over.

Leigh stood in the center of the group as Bentley, who had stayed away from Walker and kept to the shadows finally appeared and was next to Murray.

The wolf then glanced, or rather glared at the Coopers. Carmelita was clutching her throat and gasping for air, with her husband right next to her, nearly in tears.

"From now on, you do as I say, _when _bloody say it." Garrett seethed. "Carmelita, you are officially off the case until the child is born," He said still furious over what had just happened. "And you." He said turning over and approaching Sly Cooper.

The two men stood face to face, only inches from each other. "The next time I order to 'get off' you are going to damn well listen." Leigh huffed, and moved past the furious Cooper.

Sly, even though he was letting this slide, had never really been one for taking orders.

"And where are you going?" Sly asked, his voice straining. "To Grace's. Clear my head." The answer was as Garrett stormed out into the cold snow that was now falling even harder.


End file.
